Secrets and Shadows 2: New Beginnings
by Jaenelle Angelline
Summary: Andi begins a new life as Ororo's adopted daughter. Sequel to 'Secrets and Shadows'. FINISHED. Read and review, please! Thanks!
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1: Home

                Andi was still asleep when Ororo and Emma woke up the next morning. Ororo took a quick peek into her room to check on her, then closed the door softly and went to the kitchen. "Mmmm," she sniffed as she walked in. "Coffee smells good."

                Emma pushed a cup across the little kitchen table toward Ororo. "Here," she said. "Sit down, drink that, and tell me a little more about Andi."

                Ororo sat down. "She is a very shy little girl," she said slowly, trying to put into words what she had only felt till now. "She has spent most of her childhood going in and out of boarding schools, so she does not have friends, and she is therefore lacking in social skills. Her parents ignored her when she was home and spent the time trying to figure out ways to get rid of her; they had her on this ridiculously strict schedule that they expected her to follow, and they had the housekeeper and the rest of their staff keep an eye on her. 

                "Andi has only had her powers for a couple of years. They first manifested when she was fifteen. She and her parents were driving in the limo on the way back from a school she had just gotten herself expelled from, and a tractor-trailer flipped over on the highway and pinned the family's limo under it. Andi was trapped inside the car. The driver died instantly; Robert, Andi's father, fractured an arm. Andi's mother was just scratched." Ororo took a sip of her coffee. "They insisted on going to the hospital, even though Andi was still pinned inside the car. Andi's father's laptop was not secured, and the bag with the computer in it flew back into the third row of seats and smashed into Andi's head. She was barely conscious and bleeding." Ororo shook her head to dispel the terrible vision. "I cannot believe Andi's parents would put their own needs in front of hers. Especially as their injuries were relatively minor; hers was serious enough that the hospital kept her for a week.

                "Andi's mother was certain that Andi was not that seriously injured. She insisted that the hospital release Andi at the end of the week, although Andi was still coping with dizziness and nausea. She was also starting to feel others' emotions in her mind; but from what she said, it was an inconsistent occurrence, and she thought it was her imagination. Andi's mother signed a contract with the hospital to have a private nurse attend to her care; needless to say, she did not keep that promise. When Andi got home, life resumed as though nothing had happened. She was still expected to get up and keep to her schedule. Of course, she could not. She kept having dizzy spells and bouts of nausea. Her mother punished her, but finally gave up.

                "Andi stayed in her room, in bed, too sick to get up and attend meals. Her father's valet brought her meals, but when Andi's mother found out she had the man fired. Andi starved for a week before she got so hungry she decided to try to get downstairs to the dining room. She was halfway down, clinging desperately to the banisters when her mother spotted her. She got angry at Andi and slapped the girl so hard Andi tumbled the rest of the way down the stairs, reopening the stitches on her scalp."

                Emma's hand was clamped over her mouth in shock as Ororo went on. "At least that got Andi's parents to get a doctor for her. He took care of her until she got better and she could resume her normal activities. The only difference was that Andi found that her empathy wasn't sporadic any longer; 'the switch got stuck in the on position', as she put it. With the emotions of the staff swirling around her, it was impossible to hang onto her own identity when she was unable to shield. She went crazy one day, when it got too much for her. Her mother punished her by locking her in a tiny closet the whole day, with no food, water, or ways to relieve herself."

                Emma stared at Ororo. "My God, Ororo…that's inhuman! It's not Andi's fault!"

                "Her mother thought it was," Ororo put her cup down on the table and dropped her chin onto her fist. "Andi was desperate. When she finally was allowed out of the closet she turned to her mother and said if her mother didn't get her help she was going to either end up killing herself or someone around her. I do not think Andi meant it as an actual death threat; I think she was referring to the eventual result of her lack of control. Andi's mother thought she was threatening to kill her and the child's father; so she locked the girl back in the closet. Andi stayed in there for a couple of days; when the door finally opened again, Dr. Hebron was there."

                "She didn't have food or water for that long? How did she manage to survive?" Emma's face had gone pale.

                "I do not know. I do not even think Andi knows." Ororo's tone was quiet. She had wondered the same thing herself. "Anyway," she said, picking up on the threads of her story, "Dr. Hebron told her parents that she was mentally unstable, and offered to take her. Andi's parents signed the girl over to the doctor for a year. Dr. Hebron took Andi to a hospital for mentally unstable patients."

                "I want to do something particularly painful to them," Emma said decidedly. "Their child wasn't mentally ill, she's an empath! They couldn't understand that?"

                "Andi's parents are mutaphobes. I do not think they wanted to understand," Ororo said. "So Andi was consigned to Dr. Hebron's care for a year. He was under no such illusions; he knew what Andi was. He was doing research on autistic patients; he needed someone to tell him what they were feeling. That was why he wanted Andi. He was going to force her to develop the control to block out others' emotions and focus on one specific person. 

                "He locked her in a bare room in the basement of the mental asylum for days on end, leaving her alone to suffer the deluge of emotions she couldn't shield herself from. He promised Andi that when she learned to shield she could go home. Andi eventually discovered the trick of playing music in her head loud enough to drown out the emotions around her.

                "It was not enough for Dr. Hebron. She had to make that control unshakable. So he hooked her up to an electroshock machine and electrocuted her repeatedly to shake her concentration--"

                "He electrocuted her?" Emma gasped. "That would be enough to shake anyone's concentration!"

                "She has scars on various places on her body from electrical burns," Ororo said softly. "I saw them. She believes that they are her fault, because she could not control her ability." She picked up her coffee. "Andi did learn to concentrate even through intense physical pain. It was exactly what Dr. Hebron wanted. He had her sit in on sessions with his patients, sessions in which he electrocuted them to attempt to get a reaction out of autistic or otherwise non-responsive individuals. They could not react; they could not tell him what they were feeling; so Andi had to do it for them. She screamed for them; she begged him for them, she cried and whimpered and suffered everything they suffered. And at the end of the day, all she had to look forward to was confinement in her cell and some stale bread and water. Most of the time she could not even eat what was given to her; her throat hurt too much to swallow. She was finally released when a new doctor came to the asylum and sent her home, realizing that she wasn't mentally ill."

                "My parents weren't happy to have me back," said a quiet voice from the door, and they looked up to see Andi standing there in her black pajama bottoms and white camisole top. The clothes hung loosely on her thin body; Andi had lost more weight than she could afford while she was imprisoned at Dr. Hebron's home. Looking at the child, she wondered now how she could have missed seeing the signs of starvation on the thin body before; it was very plainly evident now. Ororo estimated Andi must be about eighty pounds by now; way below the normal weight for a five-foot two seventeen-year-old.

                A look of shock and horror crossed Emma's face for just a second before it went still and impassive. Had Ororo looked a second later, she would only have seen the smooth, calm exterior of the woman her students had called 'Frosty' and the 'Ice Queen'; but in that second Ororo knew Emma felt all the horror at Andi's abuse that she herself had.

                "Come sit down, Andi," Emma said gently, pushing out a chair for the girl. She got up and poured a cup of milk, adding chocolate mix to it, and popped the mug into the microwave and punched the buttons. "Your mother was just telling me how you found out about your powers." The microwave beeped, and she took the steaming mug out, putting it down on the table in front of Andi.

                Ororo got up and went to the counter, opening prescription bottles and taking pills out. Andi stared at the tiny dose cup she was handed, with six pills of different colors and shapes inside, and made a face. "Do I have to take those?" she said resignedly, taking the cup anyway. "What are they?"

                "Vitamins," Ororo said. "Dr. Daniels, at the hospital, told me to make sure you had one of each every day. You need to gain some of that weight you lost back."

                Andi gave a short, bitter laugh. "Most other girls my age are worried about losing it. I'm worried about gaining it." She swallowed the pills down, one at a time, with her hot chocolate, then sat at the table staring into the cup moodily as Ororo got up and took eggs and bacon out of the refrigerator. "Mother and Father weren't happy to have me back," she said. "I was lying in bed one night when I heard them arguing. Mother said she just wanted me out of the way so she could do what she wanted to do with her life. She never loved me, she never wanted me. I was always just a burden to her." She looked up at Ororo. "Mom, why did she take me in? Why didn't she just tell my biological mother no? Maybe someone else, someone nicer, would have adopted me, and I'd be a normal teenager right now."

                "I don't know, Andi," Ororo said quietly, taking strips of bacon out the frying pan and dividing them between three plates. "I don't know why."

                "She must have had a reason," Andi said. "She never does anything unless there's a reason for it." She sighed. "I guess I'll never know, right?" She turned to Emma. "When are we going to start my training?"

                Emma said, "I wanted to give you some time to adjust to your life and home here before we began. You only got out of the hospital yesterday; give yourself some time to relax. If you push yourself too hard you're only going to stress yourself out more, and lose more weight you can't afford."

                "What about lessons?" Andi turned in her chair to look at Ororo. "Am I going to get to go to a regular school?"

                "You're well caught up in your studies," Ororo said. "Charles said you could probably take a college entrance exam right now and pass easily. So consider this some time off for you. Don't worry about school lessons."

                "No school?" Andi looked puzzled. "What am I supposed to do?"

                Emma laughed and put an arm around Andi. "Andi, do whatever you feel like doing," she said. "If you want to sleep the whole day, go on ahead. We're not going to start your power lessons for a week. I want you to have some time off. And your mom agrees with me. Right, 'Ro?"

                "Certainly," Ororo brought Andi's plate over to the table and set it in front of her. "Go ahead and eat, Andi," she said when the girl hesitated. "You need not wait for us." Andi dug into the eggs and bacon and toast without further comment. Emma smiled as she saw the rate at which the food disappeared. The child must have been starving. She sneaked a look at the stove, and was reassured by the sight of another package of bacon frying on the stovetop. There would be plenty for all three of them.

                Ororo took a deep breath. "The trial date has been set," she said as casually as she could. "Charles' name is quite well known; the publicity around Dr. Hebron's arrest and charges are serious enough that the trial date has been moved forward."

                Emma watched as Andi went pale. She set down her fork. "I'm going to have to testify, aren't I," she said quietly. It was more a statement than a question, but Ororo answered it anyway.

                "Yes you will. I am sorry, Andi. It starts in three weeks; the District Attorney is going to stop by in a week or so to prepare you for the kinds of questions you will be asked. I received the notices yesterday."

                Andi bit her lower lip nervously. "Is it going to be public?" she whispered.

                "Yes," Ororo said as gently as she could. "You are no longer considered a minor, so the courtroom will be open."

                Andi started to cry. "I'm going to have to sit in front of all those people and tell them what he did to me? I can't, Mom, I can't tell everyone how he beat me and hurt me and…and…how Preston…Mom, please!"

                Ororo wrapped her arms around Andi, ignoring the tears that dampened her shirt. "I know, Andi, I am not looking forward to this either. I know how they hurt you; I wish I could go up there and tell them for you. But I cannot; this is something you must do. I will be there, if it makes you feel better."

                Andi nodded miserably. "But to have to sit up there in front of all those people; and Dr. Hebron will be there, too, looking at me, and Preston's going to be saying all kinds of things in my head, trying to distract and discourage me…and to have to tell them all…what they did to my body…"

                "Wait a moment, Andi," Emma said. "Preston Childs is not allowed to speak to you. How could he…Andi, he's a telepath?" 

                Andi nodded quietly.

                Emma looked at Ororo. "There should be a way to have the defendants removed from the room," she said. "And I'm going with you, to make sure he doesn't hurt Andi if he tries to do anything…"

                "Emma, do not do something you will regret later," Ororo said firmly.

                "Believe me, 'Ro, I won't regret anything I have to do if he tries to hurt Andi," she said coldly. "Nothing the law could do to him will ever equal the suffering he has put her through." She pushed her chair out from the table and left the room. 

Andi pushed away from Ororo finally and wiped her face. "The bacon's burning," she said faintly.

Ororo returned to the stove, but it was too late. "Well, there goes that batch," she said ruefully, looking at the burned mess in the bottom of the pan.    

                "It's all right," Andi stood up, pushing her chair back. "You can have mine. I've lost my appetite anyway." She hurried out of the kitchen, and Ororo was left staring at a half-eaten plate of bacon and eggs.

                "Damn," she swore fervently. "I should not have said anything while she was eating. She needs full meals." Sighing, she picked up the plate and emptied it into the trashcan.


	2. Nightmares

Chapter 2: Nightmares

                She was dreaming.

                _She was lying on the cold cement floor of her cell when the door opened She dragged herself upright, blinking at the shaft of bright light that stabbed into her tiny prison. After all this time (how long?) of total darkness ,the light blinded her eyes._

_                Two figures walked in. Andi whimpered, crawling away from them, dragging her bruised body away from them toward the corner. But there was only so far she could go; the cell was tiny. Hands grabbed her; she fought back weakly, flailing out with her fists, gasping from the effort that took. Then two hands reached out, captured her wrists in a pair of handcuffs, and jammed her back against the rough wall. A hand grabbed her head, and rough fingers groped at her mouth. She clamped her teeth together, until a fist slammed against the side of her head and knocked her head back into the concrete wall. She cried out in pain as stars exploded in her head. The fingers caught her mouth, holding it open as some cold hard metal thing was jammed into her mouth. When the hands withdrew she found that her mouth was open wide, her jaws hurting from the pressure._

_                She was weakly yanking at the handcuffs trying to free herself, as one figure left and then walked back holding something in a bottle. Unable to close her mouth, Andi retched and coughed as the thick, milky, bad-tasting liquid was poured into her mouth. "Swallow it," said a voice. Andi tried to, but unable to use her tongue to force the stuff down, she choked on it. A fist buried itself in her stomach, making her cry weakly; she whimpered, but somehow got all of the thick stuff down into her stomach. The bottle was tilted, more of the stuff was tipped into her mouth, and again she was forced to swallow it. Then the gag was taken out, and the figures dragged her out into the main part of the basement. Dr. Hebron slapped  tape over her mouth, then caught her handcuffs in a hook hanging from the low ceiling. He winched the hook upward until her feet left the floor and she was swinging in space._

_                Before long, the medicine they had forced her to swallow began to take effect. Andi tried desperately to scream out in pain around the tape as her intestines tightened, the cramps made worse by her hung position, but no sound escaped but a muffled wail. Seconds later, she started to retch as her smell overwhelmed her own nose. The two men aimed a hard stream of cold water at her body, washing the odorous coating off her legs. The cramps didn't stop for a long time, as her insides cramped, her shoulders cramped, and tears ran down her face._

_                She didn't know how much time elapsed. All she could do was hang there and endure the cramps rolling through her emaciated, shivering body until they finally let her down. The cramps had taken their toll on her strength, and she could barely fight as they dragged her to a table and threw her across it. Dr. Hebron uncuffed her wrists, only to re-tie them with rope to the eyebolts set into the top of the table, then removed her gag. Andi lay there in a stupor, her drugged, pain-fogged mind unable to understand the significance of the quiet 'zzzzziiipppp' behind her. Then something hard and stiff touched her…_

*                                                              *                                                              *

                **_"NOOO!!!"_**

                Ororo jolted awake at the sound of the terrified scream. "Andi," she whispered as she flung herself out of bed. She didn't even bother to pull on her dressing gown as she ran out of her room and down the few feet of hall to Andi's room. Emma was just coming out of her room as Ororo passed her.

                She flung open the door to Andi's room and ran across it. Andi was lying on her stomach on her bed, her legs twisting frantically around each other, and she was screaming in pain. "NO!! Oh, god…please don't, no, oh, god…it hurts…you're hurting me…please…no…stop it…stop it…stop it…I can't, I swear I'm telling the truth, I can't take it down…why won't you believe me?…owwww…please stop…it hurts…please stop…Mr. Xavier, please take it down so they'll stop hurting me…please…somebody help me…Miss Munroe…anybody….oww…no, please stop, it hurts…owww…NO STOP IT, IT HURTS YOU'RE HURTING ME PLEASE!!"

                "Andi!" Ororo reached for the girl's shoulders, shaking them gently but firmly. "Andi, you're home, I'm here, you're safe, they're gone! They can't hurt you any more! Andi!"

                The girl screamed incoherently again, flailing out with her fists. Desperation let strength to her fists and Ororo found herself falling backward off Andi's bed as the girl launched herself, eyes still firmly shut, away from Ororo.

                Emma appeared in the doorway just in time to catch Andi from running into the wall beside the door. "Andi, snap out of it," she said, gripping the girl's upper arms tightly. She gave her a shake. "Snap out of it!" Andi struck out with her fists, catching Emma's jaw with a stiff right hook.

                Emma released one of Andi's arms and gave the girl a hard, stinging slap across her face. Andi's head jerked with the force, and her eyes watered in pain. Slowly they opened. Brown eyes looked into icy blue ones with a stunned expression before her face crumpled and she started to cry.

                Ororo grabbed Andi out of Emma's hands and pulled the girl to her, hugging her gently as she faced Emma, bristling. "That was completely unnecessary, Emma!"

                Emma leaned insouciantly against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "She had to wake up," she said coldly to Ororo. "Look at yourself; you're going to have a big black eye tomorrow."

                "We could have found another way!" Ororo retorted.

                "We did. I did it. Don't be so protective of her, Ororo. She has to get herself under control." Emma turned and marched back to her own room, ignoring Ororo's enraged shout at her retreating back.

                "You tell me how she is supposed to control her dreams!" Ororo would have said more, but her anger was frightening the girl in her arms, and she turned her attention to comforting the sobbing child.

                "Ssshhh," she said, sitting on the floor next to Andi. Andi was crying hard, her hands rubbing her stinging cheek. "It's all right, Andi, it's all right, he's not here, he can't hurt you anymore…"

                "I hate her," Andi gasped finally, sobs still shaking her thin body. "Why is she so mean? She's so cold. I can't stand her. Do I really have to take lessons from her?" She twisted in Ororo's arms. "Please, Mom? I don't like her. I'd almost prefer Mr. Xavier!"

                Ororo sighed, and tucked Andi's head under her chin. "Emma cares about you, Andi. It may not seem like it, but she does. If she didn't, she would never have come here to begin with. She had some difficult experiences when she was younger; I don't know what they were, but they left a significantly deep impression on her psyche to alter her behavior. She tends to act cold and hard around everyone, but there is a caring human under all of that iciness."

Andi studied Ororo's face, her fingers tracing the bruise she had left on the older woman's cheek. "I guess I deserved it, though," she said, her voice soft with regret. "I'm sorry I hit you. I guess it was only fair that I get one back." Her hand rubbed her own cheek.

"It was not fair," Ororo said fiercely, surprising herself with her own vehemence. "You are not responsible for what you do in your sleep. You cannot control your dreams. I am sorry for what happened, child. I promise I shall call Xavier in the morning and ask him if it is absolutely necessary to have Emma teach you the necessary mental control." She rocked back and forth for a while, Andi's body resting trustingly on the floor between her knees. "Do you think you can get back to sleep?"

Andi sighed, and relaxed against her. "I don't think I could ever get back to sleep," she sighed. "Every time I close my eyes I see him…and Preston. They made me swallow drugs that would empty my body completely…and then they would violate me, and it hurt so much. They kept telling me they would stop hurting me if I took the shield around my mind down…but I couldn't. I didn't know how. They hurt me so badly, Mom, and I couldn't make them stop. No matter how much I begged, or how hard I cried, or what I promised them…they wouldn't stop. And it hurt, Mom, oh, God, it hurt…"

Ororo cupped Andi's chin and turned the girl's face up to meet hers. "Andi, look at me. It is over. They will not hurt you any more. I am here, and I am your mother now. They will have to kill me in order to get to you…and believe me, I have faced much worse than they, and survived. Now come on; you are cold, and you really should get back to bed."

Andi got up and climbed back into bed. Ororo tucked her in, rearranging the blankets and replacing the tossed, rumpled pillows. She was about to turn off the light and leave when Andi said, "Can you stay with me?" When Ororo hesitated, she begged, "Please?"

Ororo gave in. She couldn't withstand Andi's begging. And the child needed comfort. She stretched out on the bed behind Andi, and the girl snuggled against her under the warm blanket. The silence stretched out for longer than she thought comfortable, and or lack of anything else to do, Ororo began to sing softly. It was an old song, sung by cattle herders in her native Africa to while away the time. She sang the whole thing through, and started again. 

"You've got such a pretty voice," Andi said after Ororo was done. "I wish I could sing like that."

Ororo smoothed away a lock of stray brown hair from Andi's forehead. "Your voice is fine," she said. "And you have other talents. I could not dance the way you do."

Andi giggled softly. "Mother enrolled me in ballet classes because it was what all little girls did. I thought I wasn't going to like it…but I did. And I was good at it. My teacher finally went to my mother and told her that I had talent, and that I should audition for a better school. She said she could arrange for me to attend a private audition at Julliard, and that she was certain I could get in. She thought my mother would be happy."

"Well, she wasn't. My mother wanted me to be a doctor, to be rich so that I could, as she put it, 'take care of her and Father' so they wouldn't have to work anymore. So she took me out of ballet class, and I spent all my time studying. I got around that by enrolling for every dance class that any of the boarding schools I ever entered offered. That's how I stayed in shape."

Ororo thought about that. "Doesn't Julliard have open auditions, too? For anyone who wants to try out? Have you thought about it?"

Andi sighed. "I dream about it," she said wistfully. "But I'll never make it; I haven't had classes in a couple of years, and I'm really out of shape."

"You will never know until you try," Ororo suggested. "And while we're on that subject, Dr. Daniels said you really should get some physical exercise every day. If you are going to take up dancing again, even as a hobby, I think biking might be a good way for you to get your leg muscles back in tone."

"I've never ridden a bike," Andi said in a small voice.

Ororo smiled. "I can teach you," she said. "Think about it." Andi mulled that over as Ororo began to sing again, and when she looked down next, Andi was asleep. She smiled and started to ease out of the bed.

Andi rolled over, her hands grasping at Ororo's sleep shirt. She slid as carefully as she could back into bed, and Andi relaxed. Ororo closed her eyes. _Just a short time,_ she promised herself. _Just until Andi's really asleep._

When she opened her eyes, birds were singing outside, and sun shone through the curtains.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Emma was up first, as usual, when Ororo got up. She swept through he kitchen without a word to Emma, got herself a cup of coffee, and then marched back out to her own room, taking the cordless phone with her. Emma sighed and sat back at the table, waiting.

                Ororo checked on Andi as she went back to her room. Good, the girl was still asleep. She went into her bedroom, closed the door, and started to get dressed as she dialed the mansion's number.

                Xavier picked up the telephone in response to Jean's telepathic call. "Xavier."

                "Charles," he heard Ororo's distressed voice say, "It's about Andi--"

                "Is she all right?"

                "Oh, yes, she's fine. It's about Emma. Andi woke up in the middle of the night with a nightmare; I tried to wake her. She was terrified; she hit me and got away from me.  Emma caught her before she left her room, and she woke her by slapping her. Charles, I understand Emma has some things in her past that shaped her into the woman she is today; but I am not all that convinced that Emma is the best person to handle Andi's training, after all she has been through…"

                Xavier sat quietly. "I am going to speak to Emma, Ororo," he said, "But she will stay with you and Andi. Her experiences give her a unique qualification for caring for a child who has been used as Andi has."

                "What experiences?"

                "It is not my story to tell, Ororo. Perhaps you should consider asking Emma yourself. Could you let me speak to her?"

                Ororo opened the door to her room, glided back down the hall, and handed the phone wordlessly to Emma, who took it. "Good morning, Charles," Emma said.

                "Good morning to you as well, Emma," he said cordially. "I understand there was some excitement last night."

                "That's an understatement," Emma said dryly, taking a sip of her coffee. 

                "Emma, I understand, more than anyone else, what you experienced at the hands of the guards at the asylum you grew up in. Andi has had some of the same experiences, but they haven't done for her what they did for you. Andi isn't as strong as you."

                Emma sighed and rolled her eyes, but Charles' next words froze her completely. "Emma, are you happy with the person you've become?"

                Emma considered that. Was she? She was cold, a mask of indifference pulled over to shut everyone out who cared for her. No one knew who she really was inside…well, very few. She used everyone around her ruthlessly, to get whatever she wanted…but she wasn't really happy. "No," she said, "I'm not."

                "Then don't make Andi become another you," Xavier said, his voice tense. "Andi isn't like that. A part of your soul, the sensitivity and passion and gentleness, died a long time ago. Andi's is struggling to live. Don't kill that part of her."

                Emma bit her lip. "All right, Charles," she said quietly. "I won't."

                She hung up the phone, set it down on the table, and looked up at Ororo, standing in front of her tapping a toe on the floor. "I'm sorry," she said slowly. "I was a little out of line last night, and I'll tell Andi so when she wakes up. I didn't think."

                Ororo sighed. "Charles said you should stay," she said. "He said that you have a 'unique qualification' for teaching Andi. Can I ask?"

                "You can ask," Emma said. "But I won't answer. No, Ororo," she said, holding up her hand, "Some things are too private for others to know. I don't want to tell you, so you'll have to settle for that. Besides," she said with a small smile, "You have your hands full with handling Andi's emotional state. You don't need to worry about mine." She got up, poured another cup of coffee, and handed it to Ororo, who accepted it as the peace offering it was meant to be.


	3. Lessons

Chapter 3: Lessons

                Andi woke slowly, stretching in bed. 

                For a moment she just lay there, staring up at the ripples of light that danced off the water in the backyard pool. It was nice to just be able to lie there, not to have to worry about schedules or practicing or lessons…

                Lessons.

                She sat upright in bed. She was supposed to start her shielding lessons with Emma today. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was eight o'clock. Mom would be getting up soon; Emma was probably already up. She sighed, slid out of bed, and pulled on her jeans and T-shirt, and left her room, closing the door behind her.

                The nightmare of the night before was still with her as she stood in the bathroom brushing her teeth; but in the warm light of morning her dreams seemed silly. _They_ weren't here; _they_ couldn't hurt her. Mom wouldn't let them.

                She kept thinking as she yanked the brush through her thick hair. Mom had promised that she wouldn't let _them_ hurt her, and Andi trusted her.  Mom said Emma was the best one to teach her…and Andi trusted her on that too. Emma was cold and impersonal, but it wasn't like her own mother's malicious indifference. She really hadn't been around Emma too much since she'd come home; maybe she could get the other woman used to her if they spent more time together.

                Just as soon as she could get her stupid hair to behave. Not for the first time Andi wished she could cut her hair; her hair was so long and thick and it got so terribly messy all the time. She sighed heavily; and it attracted the attention of someone passing outside the door.

                Emma looked in the open bathroom door and saw Andi standing there trying to pull the brush through the long thick locks of brown hair. Without much success; it seemed to be stuck on a large snag. "Here," she said quietly, stepping in and taking the handle of the brush. Andi's eyes widened, but she didn't demur as Emma untangled the snag with cool, deft fingers, and drew the brush through the smooth hair. "There. It's easier if you can see what you're doing." She examined the hairbrush. "Is this the one you normally use?"

                "Yes," Andi said quietly. "Mother always bought the stuff I used. Why?"

                "Because as long and thick as your hair is, you really should be using something different," Emma said, putting the brush down on the bathroom counter. "Wait here." In moments she was back, handing Andi another brush still in its plastic package. "Go ahead," she said. Andi studied her for a second. Her face was still cool, but it wasn't as set as it had been the night before, which Andi had fuzzily remembered as being marble-like in its fixed expression. "I bought it for myself, but mine doesn't really need replacing." Andi looked at the new brush, and the expression on her face changed, to one of impassive coolness. 

                Emma noted the change in expression. "Andi? What is it?"

                "Nothing." Andi started to try and rip into the package. Emma stopped her, showing her the easy-open tabs on the package, and watched as Andi, still expressionless, took out the brush. "Thank you," Andi said flatly.

                Emma turned on her heel and continued toward the kitchen. Of all the cold, ungrateful children…she had tried, in her own way, to make up to the girl for the slap last night, but Andi looked like she didn't want to make up. She sat down in one of the kitchen chairs with a disgruntled expression that Ororo noticed when she came in a moment later. Emma was so upset she didn't think to ask where Ororo had been this early in the morning. "Emma, what is wrong?"

                "I gave Andi a new brush. She could barely say thank you. I thought her face was going to shatter if she tried." Emma pressed her lips together.

                "You slapped her last night, Emma. Maybe she does not forgive easily." Ororo turned on the coffee maker, and was about to leave it at that when she remembered something. "What kind of brush was it?"

                "A wooden paddle brush, for that long thick hair of hers," Emma said, turning to look at the other woman. "Why?"

                "Andi's mother used to spank her with a brush like that," Ororo said softly. "Hard spankings. Bruises all over, Andi said. She couldn't sit comfortably for days."

                Emma covered her eyes with her hand. "Oh, God," she groaned. "And I just gave her a similar one. I didn't know, 'Ro."

                "I'm sorry," came a voice from the door. Andi walked in and sat down at the table. "I should have been nicer, Miss Emma. It was a gift. You wouldn't…use it…like that, would you?" She looked like she was expecting to hear Emma say yes.

                "Of course not!" Emma looked flustered. "I would never spank you. You're too old for it, for one; and two, it's your mother's job to do that." She nodded toward Ororo. Andi flicked her eyes toward Ororo, who shook her head. The girl relaxed visibly.

                She grabbed a lock of her hair and examined it. "It did work better, though. It's not as tangled as it usually is."

                "Have you thought about getting it cut?" Ororo said.

                Andi shook her head. "Mother said the only thing that looked good on me was my hair. She insisted that I never get it cut. She would trim it every now and then, but she wouldn't cut it short. I even asked her a couple of times."

                "Would you like to?"

                Andi thought about it. "Yeah," she said after a moment. "I would…but I can't do it myself."

                "Why don't you go to a stylist's?" Emma said. Andi's eyes widened.

                "Could I? Mom? Could I?" Her eagerness was palpable. Emma smiled slightly at the eager tone, and mused that there was a lot of difference between Andi's 'Mother', referring to her real mother, and the way she said 'Mom' to Ororo. It was funny how she seemed to have bonded to Ororo in the few short months she had known the tall African woman.

                "Later," Ororo said cheerfully. "Emma wants to start the lessons early so there will be time later for us to do what I wanted to do today."

                Andi turned dutifully toward Emma, who made the smile vanish as she slipped into what she privately referred to as her 'teacher' mode. "Shielding isn't difficult," Emma began. "In fact, when Charles told me you didn't know how to shield I was rather surprised. Shielding usually comes automatically for those of us who have mental gifts. And empathy is rarely found alone; usually its empathy and telepathy together. Since that doesn't seem to be the case here, we'll just have to work with what we have. Now. 

                "A shield is a barrier around your mind, built by you to keep others' emotions out. In order to form this shield, you have to find your center, the calm core that everyone has inside their mind, and then ground your shield in that core of calm so that nothing will shake it. Do you understand?" Andi nodded. "Good then. Close your eyes, and let me take down my shield. I'm going to keep Ororo and me shielded so all you have to deal with is your own emotions. All right?""

                Andi closed her eyes, and at Emma's urging she searched for the calm  in her center. "Okay," she said finally. "I think I've got it. What do I do now?"

                "Now imagine you're a tree, growing roots down into the ground…and your branches start growing, so thick and numerous that they form a barrier around your mind, so thick that no one can cut through it." Andi concentrated on doing so, then said, "Okay, I think I have it."

                Then she gasped and clutched her head as Ororo's and Emma's emotions crashed into her head like a tidal wave. She didn't realize she was whimpering until they stopped coming abruptly, cut off by Emma reinstating a shield around Ororo's and her own emotions. "You didn't get it," Emma said, her voice sounding a little strange. "Give it another try. Find your center, then ground." Andi concentrated, making the wall of branches thicker this time, then nodded. And her barrier swept away in the flood of emotions.

                So they did it again. And again. And again. As the lesson went on, Andi's barriers fell time and time again, until she was almost in tears from frustration. Emma was frustrated, too. It was such a simple thing. It was bad enough that Andi didn't know automatically how to block emotions out, but her repeated, fumbling attempts to form one were in vain. Every time Emma dropped the shields around her own mind the emotions crashed into Andi again. They took a quick break, and Emma walked out of the room in agitation.

                Ororo sat down beside Andi, taking the girl's hand in her own. "Andi," she said coaxingly, "Do something for me. Try to relax." Andi squirmed around on the chair, then finally slumped. Ororo placed a cool hand on her forehead, then said, "Breathe. In, out, in, out. Relax. Empty your mind of everything; don't think about anything. Are you doing that?"

                Andi concentrated. In, out, in, out, in, out. Breathe. Relax. She sighed as her frantically swirling mind relaxed, dropped all of its activity, and just stilled.

                Emma came back in, and Andi struggled to hold onto that calm. When her shield was finally 'grounded' in the calm Ororo had taught her to make, she thought she had it. Then Emma dropped her shield, and Andi wailed in hopeless despair as emotions came flooding in.

                "What is wrong with me?" she wailed, and Ororo hugged her as she beat her fists on the table. "Why can't I do it? Why is it so hard?"

                "You're not trying hard enough," Emma snapped at her. "Come on. Again."

                The afternoon wore away as Andi and Emma sat there at the table, trying to master Andi's unruly, uncooperative empathy. All of their efforts kept meeting with failure. Andi finally opened her eyes, brimming with tears, and said hopelessly, "I can't do it. I've tried and tried and tried and I still can't do it. I'll never get it. Please, Emma, can't you just create the shield for me and just teach me how to use it?"

                "No," Emma said inexorably. "You have to create the shield. You have to learn to control it."

                "Well, then, can you show me where my center is? Maybe it's like music. I've always been able to learn music better after I heard it played. Please?"

                "I won't always be here to show you where it is," Emma said, hoping what she really felt didn't show in her eyes. "You have to learn to find it yourself. But not today; what we've done is enough for today. We'll pick up again tomorrow; you're too stressed for any more of this tonight." She got up, pushed her chair back from the table, and left the kitchen. 

                Andi sat there in a chair. "I tried, Mom, I really did," she whispered to Ororo. "I really did."

                Ororo shook her head. "I am not mad at you, child, really, I am not. I am…disappointed."

                Andi sat there at the table in silence as she and Ororo ate a beef stir-fry for dinner, then, still silent, she retreated to her room when Ororo told her she didn't have to do the dishes that night. 'Ro did the dishes in silence, hung up the towel, and then headed off to her room to call Xavier. She was passing Andi's closed door when she heard something suspiciously like a sob. She tapped on the door gently. "Andi?" Another sob. "Andi?" she tried the knob. The door wasn't locked. "Andi, I'm coming in."

                Andi was lying face-down over the bed, face buried in Ali's soft tummy, her shoulders shaking with sobs. Some part of Ororo noticed rather distantly that the girl had been putting on weight; she was almost back to 'slender' from 'emaciated'. "Andi, what's wrong?"

                'I tried!" Andi howled in frustration and disappointment. "I really really tried, but I couldn't do it. I'm a failure, like my mother said, I'm an ungrateful, selfish--" and the word she used made Ororo's eyes widen. How could Andi's mother use such hateful words to her daughter?

"You are _not,"_ Ororo said. "Andi, whatever gave you the idea that you were a failure? That you were selfish and ungrateful?"

"You said…you said…" Andi choked on her words for a moment before she finally said, "You said you were disappointed in me. I tried, Mom, I really did! Please!" 

"I am not disappointed in you, Andi! I was disappointed with the lack of progress, but I am not disappointed in you! I could never be disappointed with you. You are a very determined, strong-willed child; I could not have survived all that you have and still made a passably decent person. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Andi sat up and wiped her eyes. "I understand. But I'm still sorry, Mom."

"Don't be, Andi. Please. I'll do what I can to help you out." Ororo hugged her briefly, then followed Andi out of the room. Andi headed for the bathroom to wash her face and get herself under control; Ororo headed for Emma's room.


	4. Understanding

Chapter 4: Understanding

                Emma sat by the open window, staring out at the moonlight-silvered lawn.

                Maybe Charles had made a mistake. She really wasn't the right person to teach Andi. She must be doing something wrong. All the times Andi had tried, during the whole day, and Emma had seen her becoming more and more frustrated. She herself was becoming more frustrated.

                Shielding. It was such a simple thing. Emma herself had learned to do it almost as soon as she had discovered her telepathic abilities. It was instinctive, the mind's way of protecting itself from other's thoughts…or, in Andi's case, feelings. Why had her mind not put one up? With all the pain and suffering that had been heaped on her, why had her mind not protected itself by developing shields? Emma had been sorely tempted to enter Andi's mind and show her how to form a shield, when she'd seen the girl so obviously miserable from her failure. She had resisted the temptation, partly because Andi really did need to learn to find it herself; and partly because she was afraid that such close contact with the girl would invariably open to Andi's mind certain memories that Emma wanted to keep very private indeed.

                Andi had too much of her own pain to deal with; she didn't need to know that her teacher was an older version of herself. Andi didn't need to know that Emma had been the victim of severe childhood abuse; she didn't need to know that Emma too had been carelessly, maliciously shoved into an asylum and forgotten; she didn't need to know her teacher had been cruelly used and abused in the asylum by an assortment of guards.

                Charles had struck a nerve when he asked Emma if she was happy with the way she was; and if she wanted Andi to become like her. Emma didn't. There were times when she didn't even like herself.

                With difficulty, Emma ripped her thoughts away from her own life and focused on Andi's, getting out of her seat by the window and beginning to pace. It wasn't right. Something wasn't adding up. Empathy almost never turned up alone; it usually came accompanied by telepathy. Emma couldn't remember an instance of empathy turning up alone. She would have to ask Ororo if there was a chance that an injury in the car accident had damaged Andi's brain. An irreparable brain injury would explain Andi's inability to shield and her lack of telepathy.

                She heard Andi walk into her room and shut the door; then, moments later, the sound of sobbing. Emma sank down on her bed, staring at the wall miserably. Tentatively lowering her own shields around her mind and Andi's brought to her a palpable wave of near-unbearable misery and anguish from the younger girl. Despair, hopelessness, a feeling that she was a failure; and a feeling that maybe her parents were right, maybe she wasn't worthy to be loved. That last made Emma's eyes get suspiciously misty; she was about to go in and try to comfort the girl when she heard Ororo's footsteps in the hall. They stopped at Andi's door, and then went in. Emma sat back. Ororo could calm the girl better than Emma could. She reinstated the shields; Andi might be too miserable to notice, but she might if she picked up on Ororo's distress on her behalf.

                Emma got up and started shedding her clothes. As she slid her nightgown over her head, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her body was still firm, youthful-looking; every man's wet dream. Emma smiled faintly. She had spent a lot of money to get herself to look like this; getting to where she was now wouldn't have been possible if she hadn't taken the lessons she learned in the asylum and used them. Men, in general, were driven by their hormones; and she had learned that with her powers she could tweak their eyes and brains so they could think of nothing but those hormones. She had used that to gain access to their bank accounts and money and everything else.

                She was sitting at her dresser table brushing her short, silky blond hair when she heard Ororo's footsteps leave Andi's room. She didn't turn around, expecting the other woman to walk into her own room, but instead the footsteps stopped in front of her own door. There was a brief knock, then Ororo walked in. She closed the door, walked exactly two steps into the room, and crossed her arms. In a voice so full of anger it shook, she said, "You are being too hard on the child, Emma."

                Emma turned in shock. Ororo rarely ever lost her temper. It was a complete surprise to hear her this angry.

                "Do you hear me?" Ororo said, her voice tight. She crossed the room the rest of the way and leaned in toward Emma over the dresser. "You are being too hard on her. Andi is not a normal child, Emma; you cannot treat her the way you treated the children at the Massachusetts Academy, or your Hellions. Andi has been through too much to ever be considered a normal child. Her failure to form and hold a shield today has done considerable damage to her self-esteem; and your offhand refusal to help her did not help that any. Emma, I am going to insist that you either change your approach to teaching Andi or I will insist to Charles that you leave."

                "Go ahead then," Emma said harshly. "I am the owner of a multi-national company, after all. I have better things to do than cosset and spoil a child who thinks that she can play on your sympathies to give her everything she wants, who thinks control is as easy as getting someone to show her how to do it."

                "Fine!" Ororo spun on her heel and marched to the door. 

She had her hand on the knob when Emma said, "'Ro." Slowly she turned, her inbred politeness preventing her from doing what she really wanted to do; fling the door open and leave the room.

"I'm sorry." Ororo turned, and to her surprise, Emma actually did look sorry. "You're right. Andi isn't a normal child; and I have been too hard on her. It won't be necessary to call Charles again; I'll try to behave better from now on. I have to admit, I really didn't want to leave the company right now; and having Charles…insist…that I come didn't help my mood any."

Ororo sat down on the end of Emma's bed, surprised by the sudden admission. "I am sure Charles would not have insisted you come if you had more pressing matters to attend to."

"Yes he did. And he had a good reason to. Jean wouldn't have been able to handle seeing the ugly images in Andi's mind without letting it color her perceptions of the girl. I can…because I went through a similar experience myself when I was her age."

Ororo sucked in a breath, anger gone. "Emma…I did not know…Oh, Goddess…no wonder you did not want to go into Andi's mind! Not just for her, but also for you. She would see what happened to you; and seeing what happened to her would trigger bad memories for you!"

Emma nodded, relieved that Ororo wasn't going to insist on details, and that she understood immediately the ramifications of what a close mental contact would reveal. "I was hesitant to do so for those reasons," she said, sitting on the bed beside Ororo. As the other woman seemed to have gotten over her anger, she said, "'Ro, there is something that puzzles me. Empathy is almost never a stand-alone ability; it's usually accompanied by telepathy. And she should have learned to shield by now; her mind should have learned to put one up automatically before as she'd been in that asylum for three days, getting bombarded by all those uncontrolled emotions. Did she suffer any head injury when she was in the car accident you mentioned?"

Ororo nodded. "She had a skull fracture that kept her in the hospital for a week. It would have been longer, but Chelsea believed that Andi was faking it and insisted that she be released before the doctor was satisfied with her progress. The hospital made Chelsea Sanderson promise to engage a trained nurse for Andi, but she refused to do so, and insisted that Andi resume regular activities. When the girl proved unable to do so, her mother got upset and slapped her one day while Andi was on the stairs. Andi fell the rest of the way down the stairs, reopening the stitches on her scalp. After that her mother finally got a doctor for her."

"Is that the white scar on the front of her head?" Emma asked. "I saw it while she was brushing her hair. It looked nasty."

"Yes. That's where the scar comes from." Ororo reflected. "Jean and I actually did broach the subject with Charles; he admitted that it might be a possibility, and he asked Hank to do a brainscan. I do not know what the results of those scans were; perhaps I should call Charles and see if Hank has the results."

Emma said, "If she has damage there it could explain why she does not have telepathy. It might also explain why she can't shield."

"Charles said that if Andi proved unable to create shields he would cut her off from her empathy altogether. It would be cruel to leave her with unshielded empathy."

"I'd have to agree," Emma sighed. "Poor child."

Ororo rose. "I shall call Charles tomorrow and see if the results of the brain scan are available," she said. "In the meantime, today has been a very long one…for all of us."

"I'll say," Emma sighed. "'Night, Ororo."

"Fair evening, Emma."

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Emma sat up in bed.

                She wasn't quite sure what had woken her; She wasn't hearing anything…so why did she feel this vague sense of disquiet?

                That disturbance again. This time Emma pinpointed it; it was mental. Something was disturbing her shield. Andi.

                She slid out of bed, pulled her long white dressing gown around her, and walked softly down the hall past Ororo's room to Andi's. The door was open a bit; she pushed it open.

                Andi froze in the act of shoving clothes in her suitcase. "What are you doing, Andi?"

                "Running away." Andi watched Emma warily as the woman came in and sat down on the end of the bed.

                "Why would you want to do that?" Emma crossed her arms and waited for Andi's answer.

                "Because I'm a failure. I can't even learn how to do something as simple as shielding. Mom's disappointed with me. My mother was right; I'm a stupid ungrateful selfish child. All Mom wants is for me to be happy and learn to control my empathy and I can't even do that. You were right; I must not be trying hard enough, because if I really tried I could do it, and I can't. So I'm leaving before I disappoint Mom and make her give me up." Andi closed her suitcase. "Why are you asking? You don't care. I'm just a stupid child who wants everything easy."

                "Andi," Emma reached out and placed a hand on Andi's wrist. "Running away isn't the solution. You can't run away from your problems. And there is no way that Ororo will ever 'give you up'. Andi, can't you see how much she loves you?"

                Andi looked up at Emma and a slow tear crept out of her eye. "I want her to love me. I want her to be proud of me. But all I seem to manage to do is disappoint her. I did the same thing to my mother…and she gave me away. My biological mother gave me away. I don't want to be there when Mom decides she can't deal with my constant failure and gives me away. What then? Where will I go? Who will take me? I'd rather run away now and live on the street than go to another home like Dr. Hebron's."

                Emma sighed. "Andi, sit down." Reluctantly, the girl sat. "Close your eyes." Andi closed them. Emma dropped her shields, both around her mind and around Andi's, and slipped in.

                So much pain and anguish here. Emma's heart constricted in sympathy. Parents that didn't love her, who shoved her in boarding school after boarding school, ignored her and neglected her, beat her unmercifully when she was bad…but the beatings were better than the cold indifference that she was treated with the rest of the time. Andi became the schools' problem child; her grades were excellent, but she picked fights and just generally got into all sorts of trouble. Emma probed gently further into Andi's mind, having to drop a few more barriers than she normally did in order to see; and then she dropped one barrier too many.

                Andi gasped and went rigid as images flooded her mind. A young Emma cried under her own parents' beatings and her father's abuse; then suffered the same thing, much more violently, in the asylum when Emma's telepathy asserted itself. Images flooded Andi's mind of Emma, thrown over a table and brutally used for her guards' pleasure; other inmates of the asylum being offered the use of the helpless teen's body; and then the desperation that forced her to take control of one of the guards' minds and have him release her. Then the years of living on the street, stealing from shopkeepers with the help of her telepathy; insinuating herself into parties where the rich arrogant men thought Emma was easy pickings; and found themselves signing away small portions of their fortunes as a result. Andi watched Emma's ruthless climb to the top; her exploitation of men; and finally the months of painful cosmetic surgery to enhance Emma's natural beauty to conform to men's idea of the perfect woman in order to get where she had gotten today. She saw Emma's shock and horror and guilt as the group of youngsters she had gathered and called the Hellions were ruthlessly slaughtered; and saw Emma's determination to never allow such a thing to happen again. And she saw what Ororo had tried to tell her but Andi hadn't believed; Emma did care about Andi. It was because she did care deeply that she was so hard on her; she didn't want to go easy on Andi and pass over anything in her teaching that might mean life or death later.

                Emma saw Andi, shivering, nude, bruised, locked in a tiny cell, lying in her own body's filth; saw the agonized shudder when the electricity passed through sensitive flesh; saw the familiar face twisted in agony as she was violated from behind, not only with her captors' body, but with all sorts of inanimate objects. Her own body shuddered in sympathetic pain; she knew what it felt like.

                And there it was; unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't looking for it, but Emma was, and it confirmed her suspicions. Andi had suffered irreparable brain damage from the skull fracture's rebreaking. The damage had locked her telepathy inside her, leaving only her empathy; but that empathy was considerably heightened.

                Emma had to really look for Andi's center; for a while it seemed that the girl didn't have one. And when she did find it, she found it as crowded and tumultuous as the rest of Andi's mind. Feelings of shame, despair, pain, anguish, and self-hatred swirled around Andi's center. Emma touched one of the knots of emotions, quietly unraveling all the negative emotions and dispelling them, replacing them with a feeling of trust in the X-Men and Ororo and Emma; calm and peace, and love above all. And a sense of self-esteem, a feeling that she wasn't worthless, that she was worthy of being loved, and that she would never be hurt or used or abused or exploited again. Then she 'led' Andi over to that calm corner of her mind, planted the girl in the middle of it, and showed her how to ground and center. She could sense Andi's wonder and elation as she accomplished it, and then she withdrew from Andi's mind.

                "Do you have it?" she asked. When Andi nodded, Emma sent a wave of emotion roaring at her. The shield didn't waver. "Now let it go, Andi. Unshield." She 'saw' Andi's branches withdraw, felt the girl pick up on her own emotions and the faint, muted emotions of Ororo sleeping down the hall; but before it could drive her into panic again, Emma said, "Shield!" Andi did. It wobbled a little bit; the girl physically put out a hand to steady herself; but the shield held.

                "I did it!" Andi gasped in delight when Emma opened her eyes. "I did it, I really did it, oh, thank you, Emma, thank you--" and she threw her arms around the other woman. Emma smiled as the girl hugged her so tight her spine creaked.

                She didn't mind a bit.


	5. Birthday

Chapter 5: Birthday

                Emma rose a little later than she usually did, due to the late night. She was surprised to find Ororo was already up. "Good morning," she said. "You are definitely up early. Well, for you, anyway."

                "Remy came early to put Andi's new bike together," Ororo said. "I had to wake early to let him in." She tipped her head in the direction of the family room. Emma went in to investigate.

                Remy was there, sitting on the floor doing something complicated to the metal framework of a silver and blue multi-speed bike. He flashed a grin at Emma as she walked in. "'Lo dere, Emma."

                "Hello yourself," she said, watching as he connected the brakes to the rear gears. "What is this for?"

                "Today be Andi's birt'day," he said, flashing that charming Cajun grin at her. "I brought over de gifts dat some of de ot'ers buy for Andi and 'Ro ask me to put her new bike toget'er."

                "Today's Andi's birthday?" Emma turned and went back into the kitchen, where Ororo was putting the candles on a huge chocolate cake. Emma looked at it in amusement. "Chocolate inside as well as out?" she asked, picking up the rest of the candles and starting to slip them into the candleholders Ororo had dotted all over the top of the cake.

                "Of course," Ororo smiled. "Andi told me she loves chocolate, only her mother never allowed her to have it. I decided to indulge her."

                "I didn't know it was her birthday. I didn't get her anything."

                "I asked Jean to pick out something for her and I put your name on it. Andi should like it."

                Emma looked at the cake. "Eighteen years old? Today's her eighteenth birthday?" Ororo nodded. "So why are you getting her a bike? Why not a car?"

                Ororo said dryly, "Emma, she does not know how to drive, and also, a car would be an extravagance. One I cannot afford." She reached into a plastic bag sitting on the server, and took out a card. "Here. Jean purchased this for you to sign and give her."

                Emma looked at the card, and wrinkled her nose. Ororo noticed the face, and smiled. "It is not the card you would have purchased if it had been your choice, I know," she said, chuckling. "Jean and you have very different tastes…in most things." She busied herself placing plastic film on top of the cake and making room for the big chocolate confection in the refrigerator.

                Emma picked up the card and retreated to her room. After a quick mental check to see if Andi was still asleep (and an extra touch to be sure that she stayed that way) Emma dug under her bed for her personal briefcase.

                She had two that she always traveled with; her business briefcase, with her corporate paperwork in it; and a private one, in which she kept her personal things. And one of the things she always kept in there was the checkbooks for all her personal accounts in various banks all over the world.

                She had just opened her fourth account with Manhattan Savings and Loan. As of now, it had a fairly small balance; only a few thousand or so. It should be sufficient for Andi, who probably never had this much money in her life. Emma took out her cell phone and called the bank. The bank manager was called to the phone to confer with her; he always handled her accounts personally, since she had well over a million tucked away in their vault. She assured him that yes, she did want to do this, that she did want Andi's name added to hers on this account, and that in the future he was to treat Andi, if she called, exactly as he would treat Emma. She hung up finally, satisfied that he got the message, and checked the balance. She had opened it with five thousand a month ago and hadn't touched it, so Andi would get a brand new account and checkbook. She wouldn't be able to use the checks until the ones with her name on them printed on them came in, but that would be a minor inconvenience at best.

                Next, Emma opened her purse and took out her wallet. Checking the bills in it, she finally decided on three hundred dollars in crisp new hundreds, twenties, tens, and ones. She signed the card with a flourish, grimacing a bit at the flowery pictures in the card, then tucked the money into it, put the card in the envelope, and licked the flap, grimacing as she did. One of the things she liked about being rich was the fact that she could afford to pay others to lick envelopes for her; she almost never had to do this herself. She smiled a bit, a secret, amused smile, at the thought of what Ororo would say if she went out there and asked _her_ to lick the envelope, and pressed the flap closed. Going shopping would serve a number of purposes; one, Andi could pick out whatever she really wanted for her birthday; if Jean had picked most of the gifts out (and she probably had) then there wouldn't be a lot there to interest a girl like Andi. Jean would have picked out things that would appeal to a eighteen-year-old; forgetting that Andi might be eighteen chronologically, but she was much more mature. Silly things like makeup and clothes might not be the kind of thing Andi would like.

                Another advantage would be that Andi could get out and have a little fun. From what Ororo had said, Andi didn't get out much; and mall crawls were a necessity for a young girl. She'd have to teach Andi the finer points of mall crawling, shopping for bargains, and, since it was October, Andi would need to get something nice to wear for the Christmas party Emma wanted to take her to. When Emma had first heard about Andi, she had asked Charles if she could take a look at Andi's transcripts; and Andi looked like the protégé Emma had been secretly looking for. And a mall would be the perfect place to test Andi's shields.

                She put the card in the bag with the presents in it back in the kitchen without a word to Ororo as to its contents, and Ororo, making Andi's favorite breakfast of eggs and bacon and sausage, didn't ask. Instead, she said, "Are you going to continue her lessons today? It is her birthday."

                "Well, since she figured out shielding last night, I was planning on taking her out shopping today. Being around crowds of people will encourage her to firm and strengthen her shields. I expect she will want you to come along as well."

                Ororo looked wistful. "As much as I would like to, I cannot," she said regretfully. "There is a new student back at the school who can control water. Charles sent me a note this morning via Remy  asking if you two were settled in here sufficiently to allow me to give the boy a quick lesson."

                "We'll be fine," Emma assured her, smiling gently. "I promise. Andi and I came to an…understanding…last night. We mended our misunderstandings while she mended her shields."

                Ororo turned away from the stove. "You mean she learned to shield?"

                "Yes," Emma leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of her coffee. "All I had to do was show her how to do it. She really is a very bright child. And Ororo; I was right. The skull fracture damaged her brain, shutting off her telepathy and heightening her empathy."

                There was a sudden cry form down the hall. Emma sprang up and dashed for the hall. Andi was standing, frozen in place, in the act of entering the bathroom. A quick mental probe showed Emma the reason; Remy had been in there. She had walked in on him and it had startled her.

                Remy pulled up his  boxers and jeans with a blush. "Remy sorry, _p'tite_," he said, smiling comfortingly at the shocked girl. "Remy should have locked de door when he come in here. F'rgive me?"

                Andi nodded stiffly and spun around. Emma shot Remy a killing glare and went after Andi. Ororo, having taken the time to turn off the stove, was about to follow them when Remy put a hand on her arm. "_Non, chere,_" he told her. "Emma got dis taken care of. Remy t'ink maybe she better at giving love advice to girls dan you."

                "What?" Ororo stared at Remy. "What are you talking about?"

                "Dat wasn' fear Remy see in de _p'tite_'s eyes, 'Ro. Dat was…desire."

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Emma had sensed the mixed emotions in Andi's mind, and told Remy quickly to keep Ororo out as she followed the retreating girl. She walked into Andi's room, closed the door, and sat down on the end of the bed. Andi was lying on her back on the bed, staring at the ceiling and hugging Ali to her chest. 

"That wasn't the first time you've seen a man's--" Emma started.

Andi interrupted. "No it wasn't." she sighed and sat up, still hugging her teddy bear. "It's just the first one I've ever seen that wasn't being used to hurt me. Besides my father's, of course." She rocked back and forth a little, completely oblivious to Emma's stunned silence. "Emma," she said finally, "There's something I don't understand. Back there, just now…" she hesitated, seeing Emma's abstract look. "What's wrong?"

"You saw your father's…" Emma paused, trying to find the right words, "…organs?"

"Yes," Andi said, dropping her eyes and picking at a thread on the bedspread. "Lots of times. He and Mother would 'conduct their business' in front of me sometimes." The furrow in Emma's brow got deeper. Andi hastened to explain. "No, see, Mother said that was an example of what happens when I get married someday. It was meant as a demonstration. What I don't understand is that when Mother and Father did it, it looked like it was…fun, like they enjoyed it somehow. But when mother did it to me, all I felt was pain. And then, just now, I saw Mr. LeBeau's--"

"Remy," Emma interjected.

"—Remy's, it didn't bring to mind the same pain I used to feel. I'm all confused." She looked at Emma.

Emma pushed her thoughts away. She would answer Andi's question now, then get the girl to answer her questions about her parents. "Sex is a normal biological function," she said. "It's supposed to feel good. And believe me, it does. Sex can happen between men and women, between two men, and between two women."

Andi wrinkled her nose. "How do two men do it?" she asked.

"In the same way Preston molested you," Emma said, and as Andi's eyes grew round, she said, "Yes, it hurts if you're not a willing participant. It hurts a lot. But if you like it that way, and you want it done that way, it can be a pleasurable experience, or so I've heard." She reflected. "Come to think of it, some men and women do it that way, also. They say it feels good to. What it basically comes down to, Andi, is the willingness factor. If you're a willing participant, then it shouldn't hurt. If you're an unwilling participant, then yes, it's going to hurt, quite a bit." She sighed. "Does that help?"

"Yes," Andi said meditatively. 

"Can you answer a question for me?"

Andi looked at her, startled. "Sure."

"How did you happen to see your parents engaging in activities like that?"

Andi sighed. "Father was away on business trips a lot," she said. "And when he came home the first thing they always did was call me into his study and talk to me about whatever I did wrong. Mother would tell Father everything the school said I did wrong, and they would decide on a punishment. Usually it was going without meals and snacks, but when I did stuff they said embarrassed them, I'd get a spanking with Father's belts, or a metal yardstick they had while I was bent over Father's desk and had my butt bare. Then they'd tell me to go up to their room and stand in the corner facing the wall, and they'd do stuff in the bed while I stood there. The corner had a mirror, and I could see what was going on behind me. It was embarrassing; but when I complained about it, my punishments would get more severe. 

"Right after I got my first period Mother called me into her room. Father wasn't home. She said that I was old enough now to learn about the 'birds and the bees', as she called it, and she showed me a book that described everything. It all looked really uncomfortable, and when I said that to mother, she said, 'It's always uncomfortable dear, but if you're prepared for it, it won't hurt quite as much.' She had this thing she put on that made her look like Father, and she used it on me. It hurt horribly. I remember begging her to stop, but she didn't. I don't remember what happened later; I woke up in my room a lot later, and I thought I had my period again." Andi stopped talking. "Was that wrong?"

"Yes, it was. It was really wrong. Andi, anything that hurt you is wrong. We'll have a talk about that later." Emma was going to talk to some other people, too.

"Why is he here, anyway?"

"Who?" Emma said, startled out of her reverie. "Oh, Remy? He's putting your birthday present together." Andi gave her a blank look. "Your Mom bought you a new bike for your birthday."

"A birthday present? She got me my first birthday present?" Andi jumped off her bed and ran out of her bedroom. Emma followed more slowly, thinking hard. **Remy,** she said to him, **Can you keep Andi busy while I talk to Ororo?**

_Sure_, came the answer, and Emma went on into the kitchen. "Ororo," she said, "Why aren't Andi's parents being charged at the trial too?"

"Neglect, while horrible, wasn't something the DA wanted to bring up in court," Ororo said. "This was to be a trial for abuse only. She's thinking about filing charges against the parents for neglect and abuse."

"I don't see why she couldn't charge the parents with the same sexual abuse that they're charging Dr. Hebron with."

"Did Andi tell you something she hasn't told us?" Ororo froze in the act of spreading jam on Andi's toast.

"Her parents had intimate encounters in front of her. And Andi's mother took her virginity."

_"WHAT!?"_ The knife clattered to the floor. Ororo ignored it. "What?"

"Andi's mother introduced her own daughter to adult activity, then forced her to watch as she and Andi's father coupled."

"Oh my God," Ororo paled. "No wonder she's so afraid of Remy."

Emma shook her head. 'She's not afraid; she's more curious than anything else. Yes, when she got out of the hospital, right after the incident, she was afraid. She's gotten over that. We didn't have to do anything; just give her a safe, loving environment and some time to heal. Now her natural desires are taking over, and she's curious, just like any other eighteen year old would be about her sexuality." Emma shook her head. "That's not what I wanted to discuss. I wanted to ask you what kind of plans are being made to take care of Andi's parents."

"I'll discuss it with Charles," Ororo said. "They can't be allowed to get away with that." She went to the kitchen door and called, "Breakfast!"

Andi  came in. "Mom? Can Remy stay?"

Ororo smiled. "If you want him to," she said. "Now, while we are on the subject of birthday presents, there are some more for you over there."

Andi dug into the bag of gifts eagerly. She was happy with everything she had gotten; makeup from Jean; clothes from Rogue and several of the other female members of the staff, and books from Charles. Then she reached into the bottom of the bag and took out the fat pink envelope Emma had written her name on. She ripped open the envelope; and out fell the black leather bank book and the crisp, new bills.

She bent to gather them up, and set them on the table stunned when she realized how much was in there. "All this? For me? I'm supposed to put this in an account, my own account?"

Emma shook her head. "There is an account at Manhattan Savings Bank in your name already," she said. "You only need to wait until the checks with your name come in. In the meantime, since I wanted you to accompany me shopping today, the money is for you to spend however you wish." She smiled gently. "Are you happy?"

Andi's smile was answer enough.


	6. Private Testimony

Chapter 6:

                "This is _sooo_ pretty," Andi said happily.

                She was standing in front of the mirror at one of the mall's department stores modeling an elegant emerald evening dress. Emma smiled at the excited, happy tone in the girl's voice and said, "Do you like it?"

                Andi turned to her, delight written all over her face. "Like it? It's gorgeous!" She twirled, watching the full skirt move with her. "You have wonderful taste. Everything Mother bought me always looked so juvenile." She turned to Emma. "Are you sure you want me to come to your company party? I mean, I know I've been to Mother and Father's parties before, but I was only down there long enough to greet the guests and help the butler take the coats, play the piano so all their friends could be suitably impressed with my talent, and then I'd get sent to my room. Sometimes the housekeeper would remember to bring up dinner, but she often forgot, and I didn't get anything to eat."

                "Of course I'm sure," Emma said, getting up to adjust a twisted strap on the dress. "I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't sure. And don't you think your Mom needs a break from you? She's been with you almost daily for the last few months, helping you deal with your injuries and stuff, and she'd probably like to spend some time with the other teachers at the school." She straightened the strap, then looked at Andi's reflection in the mirror. "It does look good. Do you want to see the other dresses I found, or do you really like this one?"

                "I like this one…but I can't resist a teeny peek at the others you found."

                Emma smiled at this show of girlish vanity and held up a long, slinky black gown. "I saw this one, and I thought maybe you would like something that would show off your figure."

                Andi gave a rather unladylike snort. "Why would I want to show off this bag of bones?" she sniffed disdainfully. "If I had a body like yours I'd show it off, but I don't, and I never will."

                Emma smiled. "Don't say never, Andi," she said. "Eat more, fill out some, and you'll be lovely."

                Andi looked at Emma hopefully. "You really think so?"

                Emma nodded. "Andi, the first time I saw you when your Mom brought you home, I'll admit, I did think you were kind of skinny. But you've been eating well over the last few weeks, and even though you really should be done growing, the doctor said you've shot up four inches. Five-six is the perfect height for a woman, Andi. You're still shorter than most guys, but not so much shorter that anyone's going to have to bend to kiss you. And you've put on a bit more weight."

                Andi sighed. "I guess you're right," she said. "What else did you find?"

                Emma pushed aside an armful of sheath dresses to pick up the deep cranberry strapless dress that had caught her eye. Andi stood speechless for a moment, her eyes wide with delight. "Well?" Emma said after a moment.

                "It's wonderful," Andi said breathlessly. "Oh, I like this one even better than the one I've got on! But I can't wear it, it's strapless."

                "Strapless dresses are the in thing this year,' Emma said. "It's considered acceptable to wear a strapless gown to Christmas parties this year, as long as it's a suitable color."

                "No, that's not what I meant," Andi said. "I have scars on the back of my shoulders. They don't show when I wear this green dress, but they'll show if I wear that one." She shook her head. "I like this green one."

                "Then we'll get that one." Emma picked up the dresses. "Go back in and take it off. We'll stop down in the shoe section next to get shoes, and then a handbag and some jewelry."

                "All this just for a party?" Andi's eyes grew wide. 

                "Andi, I throw very lavish parties," Emma smiled. "You need to have something elegant."

                The younger girl disappeared into the fitting room, and Emma waited patiently for her to come out. She took the dress and started to walk off, then turned as Andi hesitated. "Shouldn't we put the other ones back?" she asked.

                Emma smiled. "Andi, they have people who are paid to put them away. In stores, Andi, don't do anything that other people are paid to do." She led the way over to the escalator and started down to the lower floor of the store, where shoes and accessories were. "Let me demonstrate."

                Andi watched wide-eyed as Emma breezed through the shoes, selecting a few that would match, and then haughtily requesting that the awed salesperson bring the requested shoes in Andi's size. She found a pair that fit and that she liked, and watched interestedly as Emma, still commanding and imperious, ordered the saleswoman to ring up and bag them. Then, when the sale price didn't come up on the receipt, Emma threw a showy tantrum and demanded that they fix the problem and refund her credit card immediately. She would never have had the nerve to do that, as she informed Emma as they left the Shoe department and headed for Jewelry.

                "If you don't assert yourself, Andi, you'll end up getting walked on the rest of your life. You're eighteen today; that puts you on equal footing with everyone else. When you're little, everyone who's more than five years older than you gets to order you around. When you become an adult, and you start working, the only ones who can give you orders in the expectation that you'll obey them are your parents and teachers, and eventually your boss. If you walk into a store to buy something, and the salespeople don't act as respectfully as they should, you have a right to insist that they do. Here's the jewelry section; let me show you what I mean. Do it your way. Ask one of the salesgirls over there to show you some emerald jewelry to match your dress." Emma stood back to watch.

                Andi walked up to the counter, located the emerald case, and then looked at the salesgirls expectantly. There were two of them standing by the registers, talking. One was chewing gum. She looked up, saw Andi standing there, gave her a cold look, then returned to her conversation. Andi cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Ma'am, could you show me the necklace here?" she tapped the glass counter of the display case.

                The girl sighed expressively, rolled her eyes, and walked over. "Whatcha want to see?" she said laconically, snapping her gum.

                "This one," Andi indicated a lovely emerald and diamond pendant on a slim gold chain. "I'd like to see the necklace and the bracelet, if you please."

                The girl snapped open the lock on the case and took out the necklace. Andi held it up to her neck, liking the way the gold offset the deep green color of the stone. "How much is it, please?"

                "Oh, it's way too expensive for you," the salesgirl said contemptuously. "You'll want to check out the costume jewelry around the corner for something for a school dance." She took the necklace and bracelet off the counter and put it back in the case without a word to Andi and walked back to the other girl at the register.

                Andi turned and walked over to where Emma was standing. "They were rude!"

                Emma smiled. "You noticed that? Okay; now I want you to walk up to that case and demand to see the necklace you were looking at. Take the upper hand; be as rude to them as they just were to you."

                Andi turned and looked back at the girls behind the counter, and then back at Emma, then nodded. She turned and started to walk back to the counter, but Emma stopped her. "Andi. Relax, don't look so tense. Hold your head up. Look like you're the one in charge, because you are. Did you see how I acted in the shoe department?" At Andi's nod, she said, "Do it like that."

                Andi turned and walked toward the counter. As she went, Emma watched Andi transform. By the time she reached the counter, she was walking as though she owned the world and was completely confident with herself. "Excuse me," She said, rapping gently on the glass countertop. "Can I get some help here?"

                The girl who helped her before turned, looked at her, and wandered over. "Couldn't find anything you liked over there?"

                "No. I didn't; it's all cheap costume stuff. I have a corporate Christmas party I have to go to and I want something nice. Now show me the necklace and bracelet I was looking at a few minutes ago." She didn't say please.

                The girl unlocked the case and drew them out quickly. Andi looked at it, and then waved a hand at them. "Not quite what I was looking for. Don't you have anything else? Is this all you have?" At the girl's timid nod, Andi said airily, "Well, then I don't see anything here I'd like. You can put that back." She walked away, leaving the salesgirl staring dumbfounded at her back.

                Emma applauded, grinning, as Andi came up to her. "That was perfect. Remember, Andi, if you don't buy from them, the company doesn't make the money to pay their paycheck. They have to be respectful."

                Andi giggled. "I remembered seeing my mother act like that on one of the few times she took me out shopping. The salespeople were all really nice to her when she came in and when she left." She giggled. "That was kind of fun, ordering someone around and making them jump like I had to when my mother ordered me around. At least they're getting paid. I didn't get anything." A note of bitterness crept into Andi's voice, but she brightened when they headed for another jewelry store.

                She was still talking to Emma animatedly when they pulled up in front of the house and Emma saw two strange cars in front of the house. A tall blond woman, a shorter woman with cropped brown hair, and a short Asian man with a warm smile and a sharp gaze were sitting in the family room when Emma and Andi stepped in.

                "Hi," said the tall blond woman, standing and holding out her hand. "I'm Alexandra Cabot, the Assistant District Attorney. This is Detective Olivia Benson, and Dr. Huang. You're Alexandra?"

                Andi took a deep breath and extended a hand. "You're the one Mom said were coming to prepare me for the trial."

                "Yes," Miss Cabot said, sitting back down as Andi sat down in the big easy chair in front of the window. Emma took Andi's coat and bags and took them into her bedroom quietly, then returned to the family room, where Cabot was talking.

                "The defense filed a motion to keep your testimony private. Dr. Hebron's attorney thinks that having you up there on the stand crying is going to be detrimental to his defense. The jury will see, and they will sympathize, and he'll be convicted. The judge ordered me to come here and question you , get your testimony on tape, then have it turned into a transcript and read to the jury. You will only have to be in the courtroom for the cross-examination."

                "You mean, I don't have to sit up there and tell everyone what they did?" Andi looked visibly relieved.

                "No. You only have to tell it once, here," said the Asian man. "I'm here to make sure you get a break if you need it. Olivia's here to check up on your living conditions and make sure you're okay."

                Benson stood. "Could you show me around your house, Miss Munroe?" she said quietly. Ororo got up, with a glance back at Andi, who nodded. 

Emma said, "I'll stay with her, Ororo. I can reinforce her shielding if it collapses under the stress." Ororo left with Detective Benson, and Andi turned her attention to Alexandra Cabot and the psychiatrist.

"Start at the beginning," Cabot coaxed Andi. "Tell me about the first time you saw Dr. Hebron. How did you meet him?"

Slowly, hesitantly, Andi started to talk. "I was having trouble with my empathy. All these emotions and feelings were swamping my head, and I was trying desperately to hang onto the little part of my mind that was 'me.' Three of the servants my parents hired for the house were in a bad mood that day, and I couldn't control the emotions their minds were pouring into my head. I started kicking and screaming, throwing things, and pounding my head against the wall trying to stop the emotions crowding each other out in my head. Mother said I was out of control and she locked me in my punishment closet for the day to keep me from breaking anything or hurting anyone else. When she let me out I was desperate. I couldn't bear another day of having all those thoughts in my head. I told Mother that if she didn't find someone to help me I would end up hurting someone else, maybe her or Father." Andi took a deep breath.

"She out me back in the closet for what seemed like weeks, but I found out later was really only four days. She didn't let me out, she didn't give me anything to eat, or anything to drink, no matter how hard I begged or cried. I finally gave up. When she finally opened the closet door four days later, I was weak from hunger, dying of thirst, and covered in my own waste, because there wasn't a way to relieve myself tidily.

"I remember waking up out of the stupor I had fallen into and seeing Dr. Hebron's face. He was saying something to my parents, I didn't catch what it was, and then there was a needle prick in my arm. I think it was a sedative; I didn't wake up until I was at the asylum.

"At the asylum, I woke up strapped to a table. As soon as I woke, all those emotions just crashed into me. I thought the people at home were bad; now I wanted to go home, so badly. I had never felt so many conflicting emotions all at once. Anger, sadness, pain, happiness, and so many other emotions, all overwhelming me. I screamed. I remember Dr. Hebron saying something, but I couldn't concentrate. Finally in frustration, he gestured to an orderly and told him to take me 'downstairs'.

"'Downstairs' was in the cellars. When I first got there it was bare. Dr. Hebron put my arms in a straightjacket, then tied my ankles together with rope. He wanted to keep me from hurting myself, he said. An orderly came down every now and then to give me water, and a few bites of food; mostly bread. It was never much; it actually left me hungrier than if they hadn't fed me at all.

"I started to sing to myself, to hang on to my sanity. I soon found that if I sang loud enough in my head, I could block out the other emotions that weren't mine. When Dr. Hebron brought me upstairs again, he explained that he wanted me to help him with my experiments. He said that if I did that then I could go home.

"When I gained control over the emotions by singing in my head, he told me that I needed it to be unshakable. He taped electrodes to my shoulders, breasts, kidneys, spine, and hips, and electrocuted me repeatedly at higher and higher settings until I passed out. Then he would wake me up and do it again." Andi turned in her chair and lifted the back of her shirt just a bit. On her lower back, right where her kidneys were, were two perfectly circular patches of burned, scarred skin. Emma almost flinched at the sight.

She went on, telling them about her eventual release, her return home, and then her return to Dr. Hebron's home. Cabot listened, sometimes taking notes even though it was all being recorded on tape. Then she said, "Can you tell us what happened at Dr. Hebron's home when you were taken there the second time?"

Andi bit her lip nervously, but started to talk. "I woke up to the prick of a needle. Dr. Hebron injected a stimulant into my arm to wake me up Preston was already there; Dr. Hebron said he was a telepath, and he had already entered my mind and found out I was shielded. He wanted me to drop my shields.

"I told him I couldn't, because they weren't mine. Mr. Xavier put it up around my mind, not me. I didn't know how; and I don't think I could have brought it down even if I did. I told them that. They didn't believe me. Dr. Hebron took my clothes off and dragged me down to his basement, where he stuffed me into a little concrete closet and left me there. 

"He gave me drugged water, and I fell asleep. I thought I must have been asleep an entire night, because he'd adjusted the clock in his study to make me think a whole day passed. I don't know exactly how long it was, but when I awoke, he was taping my eyelids open He burned my eyes with a high-powered strobe light, and when that didn't bring the shields down, he started electrocuting me again, until my whole body jumped uncontrollably.

"When that didn't work, he took me back down to the cellar and beat my back with his belt until I passed out. He woke me up and did the same to my front, and when the shield still didn't come down Preston offered to make it come down. He bent me over a table and tied me with my feet still on the floor, then he…he…violated my backside…a lot of times. I screamed and cried. I fought, as hard as I could, but when I started kicking Dr. Hebron brought out his belt and beat my legs until they were numb. I cried, I swore I was telling the truth and I couldn't bring the shield down, but no matter what I did he wouldn't stop. He himself first, then when he couldn't stay rigid anymore he used a sawed-off broom handle. He continued with bigger and bigger things until I was bleeding and barely conscious. My rear hurt so bad, I wanted to die.

"He left me tied to the table for a long time, then he came back and did it all again. I finally did pass out; and when I woke up again I was in the hospital, and Mom was with me…" She got up as Ororo came in with the detective and fled into her arms. 

Ororo held her tight as she sobbed for a while, then said, "Miss Cabot. Can we continue this another day? Please. I think Andi has had enough."

"It's all right." Alex reached over and switched off the tape recorder. "We have what we need. Andi, just do the same thing you just did for us during the cross-examination, and you'll be fine. Thank you." She patted the girl's shoulders gently as Emma escorted her, the detective, and the doctor out.


	7. Trial

Chapter 7: Trial

(Author's Note: I borrowed Alexandra Cabot, Dr. George Huang, Detective Olivia Benson, and Detective Elliot Stabler from Dick Wolf, and the usual characters from Marvel. I'll return all of them when I'm done, so don't sue please!)

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

                "I do." Andi took a deep breath as she sat, tucking her suit skirt neatly under her thighs. She clasped her hands tightly in her lap to stop them from shaking and mentally rechecked her shields, then looked at Charles, Ororo and Emma, sitting in the front row just behind Miss Cabot, and gave them a nervous smile.

                The judge adjusted his glasses. "The jury has already heard the tape of your private testimony, Miss Sanderson, so this cross examination will be the only time you are compelled to be in this courtroom. If at any time you want to stop, tell me and I'll declare a recess until you feel ready to go on." Andi nodded and mustered a weak smile, then turned to face Hebron and Childs' lawyer.

                "So, Andi," the lawyer started to speak. "I trust you are happy now that you have gotten what you wanted?"

                Andi said firmly, "Alexandra. Only my mother and my friends call me Andi. And you and your client are no friends of mine."

                The lawyer looked a little taken aback. "Alexandra, then. Are you happy now?"

                Andi said, "Yes."

                The lawyer walked up to her. "You've been planning for this for so long, haven't you. You just waited fro someone appropriate to come along before you threw yourself at them. Or in your case, her. Miss Munroe was perfect for you, wasn't she? A soft-hearted woman who you could manipulate, the same way you manipulated your parents and my clients?"

                Andi's brows knit together. "That's not how it was."

                "Really? Because that's what it looks like. It's not the first time you've pulled this stunt, is it?" The lawyer walked back to the defense table, at which Dr. Hebron and Preston Childs were sitting, and picked up a file folder. Andi was carefully trying to avoid looking at them, so she cast her eyes down to her hands, folded in her lap, and studied her fingers. "I have here a copy of your file. At the first school you were in, a teacher, a Miss Dearborn, filed a complaint with Child Protective Services on your behalf. Nothing came of it; the social worker who went to interview your parents found the allegations of abuse were unfounded.

                "But that didn't deter you, didn't it? When you figured no one else at the school would help you, you started a fight in the cafeteria with three other girls at your school, forcing the school to expel you in order to preserve order and protect the other students in the school. Your parents found another one, and you did the same thing there--"

                "It wasn't like that," Andi protested, but the man went on.

                "—and at the next school, and at the next one. Then when you were fifteen and you had gotten out of the hospital, your parents couldn't find another school for you, but you were so desperate for attention that you threw yourself down the stairs--"

                "Objection!" Alex Cabot shot to her feet.

                "Sustained," the judge said dryly. "Is there a question in all this, Mr. Peters?"

                "I'm getting to that, Your Honor," the lawyer said. "Now, Alexandra, isn't it true that you did it for attention?"

                Andi's voice was barely above a whisper. "I did it for my parents' attention! They didn't care about me half the time, they ignored me, and the only way I could get their attention was by causing trouble so they'd acknowledge my existence--"

                "Answer the question, Alexandra," the lawyer said. "Did you do it for attention?"

                Andi bit her lip. "Yes," she finally replied in a barely-audible whisper.

                "I didn't hear that," the lawyer leaned in. "Repeat that please?"

                "Yes," Andi said a bit louder.

                The lawyer stepped back. "So my client comes to see you at the urging of your parents. When he gets there he finds you sitting in a closet. Your mother told him you had refused to eat or drink anything, and violently threatened her with bodily injury if she tried to force you to eat. You also refused to use the bathroom available just down the hall, preferring to sit in your own waste. All this just for attention? What did you think when your parents told you that Dr. Hebron was going to take you with him? 'At last, someone who will spoil me and pamper me'?"

                "Objection!" Cabot rose to her feet again. 

                "Sustained. Move it along, Mr. Peters."

                The lawyer walked in a circle, rubbing his chin, then turned to Andi again. "What were you thinking when you got to Dr. Hebron's hospital? Did you think you were getting an easy ride?"

                Andi's face flushed. "I wasn't thinking anything when I got there," she snapped. "I was drugged. Dr. Hebron sedated me before I even left my parents' house. I woke up strapped to a table in that awful asylum."

                "But you were strapped to that table to protect you from yourself, according to my client," said the lawyer. 'You were raving, violent. He had to confine you to a room downstairs to keep you from hurting yourself or someone else. And you were sedated because you were having a raving, psychotic fit, isn't that right?"

                "No!" Andi half-rose out of her chair. "I wasn't psychotic; I have an empathic gift that I couldn't control! I needed to learn to shield!"

                "And Dr. Hebron did do that for you, didn't he? When you were finally returned to your parents' home you were back under control. In fact, your parents noticed a hundred and eighty degree turn from your previous behavior. You were ungovernable before; Dr. Hebron taught you self-control. Your parents were gratified with the change. He had done so well, moreover, that you spent an entire year at home under your parents' eye, learning form tutors. You were a joy to be around, according to your parents. No more fits, no more screaming. In fact, you were so good your parents decided to try sending you to another school, against my client's advice, I might add. And according to their account of what happened there, you were in the process of doing the same thing there, weren't you? You were making a scene, trying to attract attention. So my client took you, in accordance with your parents' wishes, and attempted to retrain you. But you had succeeded this time. You lied you way into your teachers' confidences and got them to pull strings for you. They took you away, and now you have a new home. Your new mother is a teacher, right? It doesn't leave a whole lot of time for you; what are you going to do when she tells you she doesn't have time for you? Create a scene again, get yourself sent to a different home?"

                Andi sat stunned. They had taken her words and actions and twisted them all around. When the lawyer paused for breath, she spoke. "I never told Mrs. Dearborn anything. The day I came back from the holiday break she saw the bruises where my mother had beaten me with a metal yardstick because I messed up while playing a piano piece for one of her guests! I had bruises all over my legs; I couldn't sit comfortably. She saw that, and filed a complaint against my parents with Child Protective Services. But by the time they came to investigate my parents, the bruises had faded, and I was too terrified of getting another beating from my mother to tell them the truth right there in front of my parents." 

Andi took a deep breath. "I never threatened my mother. She was the one who locked me in that closet. She was the one who didn't let me eat or drink anything. She refused to let me out to go to the bathroom. When the closet door opened and I saw Dr. Hebron for the first time all I thought was that maybe someone would finally let me out, let me get cleaned up, and I could get something to drink. That was what my parents called my punishment closet. When I was bad I would get beaten with a belt or the metal yardstick, and once it was a wooden branch off a tree in the backyard. After the beating I'd get put in the closet, sometimes only for a night, but often for several days. While I was in there I would get nothing to eat or drink, nor did they let me out to go to the bathroom. When I was younger my mother would put a can in there for me to use, but later she said I had to learn to control myself, so I didn't get that anymore.

"Dr. Hebron was using me for his research, pure and simple. He wanted me to control my empathy so I could tell him what his unresponsive patients in the asylum were feeling. He electrocuted me; it hurt terribly. I have scars. See here…" and Andi stood up in the witness box and lifted the edge of her shirt, revealing the two circular scars on her lower back. The jurors in the jury box bit back gasps of horror. She pointed to Dr. Hebron, who was sitting in his chair at the defense table, his face expressionless. "You did this to me!" Andi said to him, tears falling unnoticed down her face. "You hurt me! And when you took me the second time, you let him hurt me too!" She looked at Preston Childs, sitting beside Dr. Hebron. Unlike the doctor, Childs was sitting forward in his seat, frowning slightly as he leaned forward. It was only then that Andi realized what that slight vibration in her mental shield was; Preston had been battering against it since she had walked in. "You," she whimpered, her eyes filling with tears. "How could you let him near me? You tied me down for him! You let him hurt me! I cried, I begged you to make him stop, I promised you I would do anything if you'd make him stop, but you didn't…you let him…do…" Andi couldn't go on. She buried her face in her hands and dissolved into tears.

Ororo ignored the hand Xavier stretched out to stop her. She sprang out of the bench behind the prosecution's table and ran to the witness box, reaching out and folding Andi in a giant hug. Andi buried her face in Ororo's shoulder and sobbed in misery, and as Ororo tied to calm her down she noticed that several members of the jury had damp eyes too. The judge quietly said, 'I think that's enough. Mr. Peters, do you have anything else to say?"

Hebron's lawyer must have realized how bad a blow his defense must have just received, because he sat down abruptly. "No further questions, you honor." He turned to confer with Hebron. Alex Cabot had no other questions either. The judge said, "Then let's take a ten minute recess, and then I'll hear closing arguments from both sides."

Ororo was escorting Andi out of the witness box when Andi suddenly stiffened in her arms. Her face twisted in pain. Ororo looked at her, and Andi whispered, "Preston…he's…Mom…" And she suddenly grabbed her temples crying in pain. Emma sprang up and flew to Ororo's side, helping her sit Andi up, then touched her mind lightly. Her shielding, strong up till now, had suddenly collapsed. Emma was about to impose her own shields over Andi's mind when she felt the unmistakable sensation of another mind brushing hers. It retreated quickly, but Emma knew who it was instantly; Preston Childs.

"Get that man out of here!" She snapped. "He's trying to tamper with her mind!"

The judge nodded to the bailiff, who quickly plucked Childs out of his seat and rushed him out of the courtroom. Andi sat there, shaking, as Ororo wiped her face. "He was sitting there the whole time I was up there trying to get into my shields," she said to Emma and Charles. "I could feel my shield vibrating, but I didn't expect it to collapse like that."

"It's all right," Emma said comfortingly. "Come on. Let's get you to the bathroom and get you washed up and cleaned up."

Twenty minutes later, Andi was firmly ensconced in the bench between Emma and Ororo as they listened to Alex Cabot give her closing argument. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's look past the issue of any of the parties having mutant gifts for a moment. This is not a case where that should matter. What we have is a badly-victimized young girl who has been neglected and abused by her parents, passed over by the system, and failed utterly by the people who are supposed to care for her. Over the years several people have tried to reach out to her and help her; but have been ignored. Someone finally cared enough to do what was necessary. You all heard the evidence from the doctor who treated her; she has been starved, brutalized, and horrifically abused. She now has a home with people who care about her and love her. Give her some closure; let her find peace. Convict this man who has hurt her so badly."

The judge gave instructions to the jury and sent them off to make a decision. Alex Cabot, Olivia Benson, Elliot Stabler, and Dr. Huang approached Andi where she sat between Ororo and Emma. Benson broke the silence first. "Are you all right?" 

Andi looked up with a watery, weak smile. "Yes, I'm all right now, thank you. I've just learned to shield, and they're still a little unsteady. Preston Childs was pushing at them while I was up there; they just collapsed. I'm sorry I made such a fuss."

"Oh, no, don't be sorry," the man, Detective Stabler, said kindly. Andi liked him; he had a kind face. "You did pretty well up there; I'm sorry we didn't catch him doing it earlier."

Xavier asked Alex, 'So what happens now, Counselor?"

"We wait for the jury to come back with a conviction. I don't think we'll have any problems; the evidence was overwhelming."

Dr. Huang nodded. "A lot of the jurors will see this exactly the way we do; what was done to Alexandra was despicable. I am glad to see that she hasn't suffered any lasting injury from all this; she's a very strong girl."

*                                                              *                                              *

                It only took two hours for the jury to come back with a verdict. Andi heard the foreperson read off a list of 'guilty' findings to each of the charges, and her knees went weak with relief. The judge motioned Alex up to his desk as the onlookers began to file slowly out of the courtroom. "I am surprised that  the child's parents were not here under the same charges."

                "At the time Dr. Hebron and Preston Childs was arrested I was unaware that Andi's parents had also victimized their daughter," Alex said. "Charges are currently pending--"

                "You mean you got caught flatfooted, Counselor. I'm fixing that for you." He handed Alex a piece of paper. "I am issuing a warrant for the parents' arrest as well. I want them in jail by the end of the week." 

                Alex and the two detectives left, walking with Andi, Ororo, Charles, and Emma. "This means you'll have to testify again, Andi," Alex said as the courtroom door closed behind them. 

                "It's all right; I can do it," Andi started to say, when a sudden commotion in front of them made her look up.

                Preston Childs came barreling down toward her, the chain between his wrist handcuffs and ankle shackles clashing wildly. He was on her before anyone could react, wrapping the chain around her neck and yanking. "I'm going to get you for this!" he screamed wildly in her ear, yanking again. Andi clawed desperately at her throat, trying to dislodge the chain that was cutting off her air, but she wasn't having much luck. Stars danced in her vision.

                Cold rage filled Emma's mind. She wasn't going to let him get away with this. Her mind slipped past the other man's barriers, past the minds of the officers and bailiffs who were trying to get Childs to let Andi go, and slid deep into his mind. She tapped into Andi's, taking all of the girl's pain and anger and panic and desperation with her, then blew it into Preston's mind along with all of her own anger.

                The man spasmed, going rigid. The bailiff managed to slip the key to the shackles into the cuffs, and they got Preston off Andi as the bailiff unwound the chain from around her neck. Andi took a deep, hacking breath, and Ororo wrapped her arms around Andi as they turned to look at Preston.

                He was lying on the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling. His eyes were wide with panic, darting back and forth, but even as they all watched they became empty. His mouth fell open, hanging slackly, and he went limp on the floor. Alex stared in shock, then turned to the blond-haired woman stand8ing coolly over him. "What did you do?"

                Andi said, "She didn't do anything—it was my fault—I lashed out mentally to protect myself."

                Alex looked about to protest, but Detective Stabler put a hand on Alex's arm. "It was self defense, Alex." He nodded to the three adults hovering protectively over the girl. "Go on. Take her home. She needs to rest. It was self defense." Alex watched them leave, then turned to Stabler. 

                "Do you really believe that, detective?"

                "Come on, Alex," the man said. "Wouldn't you have done the same if it were your kid?" He said quietly, "I would."

                Alex took a long, thoughtful look at the man on the floor, now being dragged upright by bailiffs. "I guess so," she said. With a last look back down the hall, she followed Elliot and Olivia out.   


	8. Uncle' Mike

Chapter 8:

The press descended en masse on them when they got out of the courtroom. Police officers formed a cordon so that Emma, Charles, Andi, and Ororo could get to their cars unhindered.

Andi collapsed into the back seat of Ororo's car with a gasp of relief, and Ororo quickly got the car moving. Emma had driven Charles to the courthouse; Ororo had brought Andi. As she started the car, she glanced in the rearview mirror. "Andi, are you okay?"

Andi was crying. "My throat hurts, Mom," she whimpered. 

"We are going home. Hang on, Andi." The girl nodded, slumping in the seat.

They got home quickly, and Emma got Charles and his wheelchair out while Ororo rushed Andi into the house. By the time Charles got into the house, Andi was sitting on the family room couch, her shirt open so Ororo could dab antiseptic into the raw red line around her throat where she had been strangled. She was gasping and wincing a bit as the antiseptic stung. "That should feel better, Andi," Ororo said, just as the front doorbell rang.

Emma looked up, startled. "We weren't followed by the press," she said, mystified. "I wonder…" She got up and opened the door.

A man stood out there on the front step. "Hello. I'm here to see Alexandra?"

"No press, no reporters," Emma snapped, her face going cold. "Don't you bloodsucking newspaper people think you have enough juicy details for your front pages?" She stepped back and tried to shut the door.

The man shoved his foot between the door and the frame. "No, wait, please, you don't understand," he said pleadingly. "I'm not a reporter. I'm Alexandra's father."

Emma stepped outside the door and closed it firmly. "Then you have a lot to answer for, Mr. Sanderson," she said, her face set and cold. "How dare you leave your daughter with that pair of perverts! The Judge issued a warrant for your arrest; you're going to be going to jail for your abuse. And I hope you die there; you deserve it for what you did to Andi."

"No, wait, you don't understand!" the man grabbed her sleeve as she turned to go back inside the house. "I'm Andi's real father. I'm not Robert Sanderson; I'm her…well, she knows me as Uncle Mike."

Emma opened the door. "Come in," she said coolly. "We need to have a talk."

Andi stared in disbelief. "Uncle Mike! What are you doing here?" She got up and ran over to hug him. Emma crossed her arms and waited, her expression softening somewhat but still cool.

"I came here to see you. I need to talk to you, Lexi," he said. He took a look at the gathered people, and said nervously, "Uh, hi. I'm Michael Hill." He took a deep breath. "Andi knows me as her uncle; but I'm her biological father."

There was a sunned silence for a long time, broken by Andi. She was looking at him as though she'd never seen him before. "You're what?"

"I…uh…" he stared at the floor, then looked back up at her sheepishly. "I'm your biological father."

Andi's eyes filled with tears. "You gave me to Mother and Father," she whispered. "You let them take me. They abused me, they hurt me, and all those years you saw and you did nothing?" She backed away from him, sitting down on the couch abruptly. "How could you do that to me?"

Michael sat down. "I don't have any excuses, Lexi. All I can say is that I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry!" Andi was crying. 'How could you just stand by and watch them hurt me? And you knew, you knew all the time. You could have had me taken away. Anything would have been preferable to staying with them…"

"I didn't know, Lexi," he said. "I thought something wasn't right; I asked Chelsea about it…but they said everything was fine, that you were just going through a difficult phase and they had disciplined you. I didn't know what they were doing…I didn't know until I heard you back there in the courtroom…Oh, God, Lexi, can't you see I'm sorry?" He raked a hand through his hair.

Charles put a hand on Andi's arm to stop her next outburst. "Suppose we all step back and start over," he said. "Ororo, would you make some coffee? Mr. Hill, I'm Charles Xavier. I run a boarding school for gifted youngsters not far from here. Andi is a student there."

The man extended a hand automatically. "I'm Dr. Michael Hall. Pleased to meet you. I can't thank you enough for what you did for Lexi."

Xavier said, "I only did what anyone would do. But I do think that you at least owe us, and Andi, an explanation."

"Yes I do, don't I." Hall sighed and took the cup of coffee that Ororo handed him. "Thank you, Ma'am." He took a sip and sat back in the easy chair, gathering his thoughts. Then he began. 

"Andi's mother and I never married. We were living together at the time. She was working as a dancer at an adult club; I was trying to get through medical school. We had no money, no means. There were times when she would go out and turn an extra trick just to get food on the table. When we found out she was pregnant we were devastated. We could barely afford to feed ourselves; how were we going to afford to feed, clothe, and raise a child?

"Then one night Deanna came home with a huge tip. She said she'd gotten the tip from a trick whose condom broke. She said he was rich, and she could tell him the child was his. So she carried Lexi until she was born.

"At that time Dean and I had an argument. The little bay girl was so tiny, so helpless; I didn't know what kind of family she was going to go to. I tried to talk Dean into changing her mind; but she was adamant, and to tell you the truth, I was desperate. I was studying almost all the time for my degree; Dean was out all hours f the day and night working a regular job and turning tricks to support me. I felt guilty about having her take on a child, but I really wanted to keep Lexi. Dean got tired of the constant arguing, I guess; because two weeks after we brought Lexi home I came back in from school one night and Dean and Lexi were gone. She came back in hours later, without Lexi and I asked her where the baby was.

"'I took her to my john, just like we agreed,' she told me. 'If you're worried about the baby, don't. He's rich, and he's married. I told him the baby was his, conceived when the condom broke, and told him if he didn't take the baby I'd go to the press and tell them that he was fooling on his wife and had a baby illegitimately.' I wondered who would be rich enough that he would worry about public exposure, but Dean wouldn't tell me who it was, afraid that I would go and try to take the child back. I was determined to get the name, though; I was only a month away from graduating, and I thought after that I would be able to start supporting both of us and the child.

"Well, the night of my graduation three of my buddies and their girls went out to a party, and Dean and I were both invited. Our designated driver got drunk too. In the car on the way back, we crashed. Dean was killed instantly. I was devastated. In only a few months I'd lost both my girlfriend and my child. I was frantic. I tried to find Lexi; I went down to the corner where she hung out and asked the girls there if they knew her trick; they all said no. Eventually I gave up.

"I worked for a few years for myself, then went and joined another practice with an old, established doctor. He was rich. We worked together for a year, then he died suddenly of a heart attack. In his will he left me his practice, which was worth a lot of money. I sold it and took the proceeds, used part of it to set up my own practice, and set the rest aside into a trust fund for the child I still hoped to find.

"When my father died I went home for the funeral. At the funeral I ran into my long-estranged sister, Chelsea, who had eloped with a wealthy man my father didn't approve of. She had a beautiful little five-year-old girl with her at the funeral; I took one look at her, at Lexi, and I knew. She was the little girl Dean had given up. She looked exactly like Deanna; long brown hair, and she had the same huge, brown doe eyes. I could barely speak when I approached Chelsea; she and I had never liked each other; but I had to know. She told me that Alexandra was hers; but I knew her better than that. I could tell she was lying. I almost told Chelsea she was lying, and told her the child was mine; looking back now, I wish I had. Lexi, your life would have been very different if I had.

"Chelsea introduced me to her husband, and I found out he was Robert Sanderson, the business mogul. I was crushed. I wanted so badly to claim the child as mine; but I thought Lexi was better off where she was. She lived in a mansion, had servants, all the clothes that she wanted, and to me at least, she looked happy. I convinced myself that she was better off where she was; all I could offer her was a public school education, a regular house, and a normal life. I could never afford the fancy schools, all the opportunities that money could buy, and everything she already had. So I made the worst decision of my life; I kept quiet. 

"I told Chelsea that I had once had a little girl like you; that she had died in a car crash along with my girlfriend. I told her that I knew raising a child took a toll on their finances; I told her that I knew your clothes weren't the same quality as theirs. She told me that while the business was doing well, most of their assets weren't liquidized. So I told her that I would set up a trust fund for you in my daughter's memory; and that she could use it to get you whatever you needed. She thanked me, and took the money. I kept careful records of what went on with that fund; I saw the money being taken out of it. I thought it was being used for you. But it wasn't, was it?"

Hall took a sip of his coffee, and looked up at Andi. "I'm sorry, Lexi,' he said. "If I had known, I would have. I know now that anything I could have given you would have been far better than staying where you were; but I didn't know that then. All I could see was what I had, and what I thought you had.

"Well, I started getting invitations to the Sandersons' parties; though I didn't like my sister I attended them anyway just to see my little girl. I thought there was something wrong with the way you were treated; marched out in front of all the guests like a little trained pet and made to perform on the piano; but I didn't know that all that practice came from being forced, I thought it was talent. As time went on, though, I thought something must be wrong; you seemed to be really withdrawn, and you jumped at every little thing. One night as you got up from the piano I saw a big black bruise on your leg. I asked Chelsea about it. She said that you had just gotten in trouble at school and she had to spank you. I wanted to take a look at it; but she sent you up to bed and I never saw anything again. I thought it seemed suspicious; but Lexi, I didn't know for sure.

"Then I picked up a newspaper a few months ago and I saw your name. I read the article. It said that your parents had put you in the care of Dr. Hebron, who had then abused you so badly they feared for you life. I can't describe what I felt; shock, horror, guilt, and shame. I immediately went to the bank and I feel responsible for what happened, Lexi. I wished that I had kept tabs on you and what happened; but I didn't blame my sister until I heard what you said in the courtroom today. Lexi, please tell me the truth. Did Chelsea do all those things to you?"

Andi regarded him quietly for a few minutes. "Yes," she said finally. "She did. She and Father both." She looked down at her cup of coffee for a few minutes. "She'd make me stand in a corner of their room and watch them. She used things on my body that left me bleeding. I hate her."

Michael buried his face in his hands. "I'm so sorry, oh God, I never knew…my poor little girl…Oh, God," and he started to cry. 

Andi bit her lip, looking at him, then put her cup down and walked over to him. She sat down on the arm of his chair and hugged him gently. "It's okay," she said. "You didn't know. How could you?" She sat like that for a long moment, her head resting on his shoulder, as his shoulders shook. 

Finally he hugged her back. "Chelsea was furious that I had stopped her usage of your trust fund. She and Robert filed a motion to have you reinstated as her daughter, but the judge in Family court flatly refused. She had signed you away to begin with; and then, too, you're eighteen now. The trust fund has been sitting idle; the terms are that you can't touch it until you're twenty-one, but if you want it now, I could have that changed--"

Charles interposed. "Andi has her own bank account given her by her teacher, Miss Frost, who, if I'm not mistaken, wants her to become her protégé in Frost Enterprises. The trust fund, however, could be placed in the care of her current guardian, Ororo Munroe. I assure you, in her hands it won't be misused."

Michael looked at Ororo, sitting quietly on the couch beside Andi, and smiled weakly. "I can see that. I will have the arrangements made. I understand if you're upset, Lexi; I understand if you don't want to see me again; but I hope you can forgive me someday for what I did."

Andi looked at him. "I can't say I'm going to forget; but I will try to forgive."

He stood. "I guess that's all I have a right to expect. I'm not going to ask that you allow me back into your life; you have your own. But in case you do want to talk to me about something, here's my number." He took a small white card from his pocket, then fumbled for his wallet. "Here," he said, taking a yellowed photo with tattered edges from his wallet. "This is a picture of your mother and me. You should have it." He took a last look at it, then handed it to Andi and slipped out the door before she could say anything else. Emma got up after a moment and closed the door.

Andi sat looking at the picture. She did look a lot like her biological mother. They had the same nose, hair, face, and eyes. Only her mouth and smile were her father's, but there was enough of a resemblance there.

She looked up at the three adults watching her soberly, and dropped her shields. She felt uncertainty from both Emma and Charles; and from Ororo, a fear that maybe Andi would want to live with her father rather than her. Andi sat back down on the couch beside Ororo and said, "Don't worry. You're still my Mom. I'd rather be here than anywhere else." She hugged Ororo tightly.

Ororo buried her face in Andi's hair. She didn't want anyone to see the tears of relief in her eyes. Her little girl was going to remain her little girl.


	9. A Gift

Chapter 9:

                Emma sighed as she pulled into the driveway of the house. She hoped Andi was going to be pleased with this little gift; it was something every kid wanted. 

                Emma had purchased a car for Andi. Granted, she didn't know how to drive, but that could be remedied with a few lessons. And she or Ororo could take her down to get her learner's permit tomorrow.

                Ororo's car wasn't in the driveway; Emma was glad. She was used to showering in the mornings; but because Ororo had to get up and attend to the new boy at the school, she would take the bathroom first. Emma didn't begrudge her the change in turns; she just disliked having her morning routine disrupted.

                She went into her room, discarding the clothes she wore, then wandered nude into the hall and grabbed a towel from the closet, smiling. Her penthouse apartment in the city might be furnished with all the latest appliances and amenities, the same with her mansion in Massachusetts, but there was something comfortable and homey about a small house like this in the suburbs. Maybe she'd have to think about getting herself one for when she felt like getting away from everything.

                Still thinking, she walked down the hallway and reached for the bathroom doorknob. She was about to turn it and go inside when it opened from within of its own accord and Andi stepped out, nude and dripping water.

                She gasped in startlement, her hands coming up to cover her mouth and her face going red at the sight of her teacher standing there unclothed. Emma barely noticed. Her eyes had fastened on the ugly red scars on Andi's body.

                Andi turned and fled back into the bathroom, red-faced and mortified. "I'm sorry, Emma!" She wailed from inside the bathroom. "Please don't be mad, I thought I was alone…I'm so sorry!"

                Emma sighed and went back down the hall, getting another towel and returning to the bathroom door. She opened it a crack and handed the towel in. "Here, Andi," she said. "Put this on, and come out. We need to have a talk."

                "Are you dressed?" Came Andi's timid voice.

                Emma sighed and wrapped her own towel around her nude body. "I have a towel on. Andi, I'm not upset; we're both girls, there's nothing you have that I don't. You don't need to be embarrassed. I don't mind. Your Mom and I ran into each other nude yesterday in the hall while you were out riding your bike. It didn't faze her. You don't need to be ashamed, Andi."

                "My mother would make me stand in the corner after my spankings and make fun of the way I looked," Andi said hesitantly. "You won't do that?"

                Emma took a moment to regain her composure. It was a horrible thing to do to a child still developing. "No, Andi, I won't," Emma said. "Andi, it's kind of difficult to stand here talking to someone I can't see. Will you come out?"

                Slowly the door opened, and Andi came out, wrapped in the towel. Emma smiled. "Andi, come to my room. We need to talk."

                "Can I get dressed first?"

                "No, because I want to take a look at your scars. I know a very good plastic surgeon; he should be able to remove those."

                "Really?" Emma nodded, and steered Andi into her bedroom. Andi sat on Emma's bed, and Emma carefully pulled down the towel to see the red circles on her shoulders, right where the muscles and tendons of her arms joined her shoulder blades. She traced the two parallel lines down either side of the girl's spine, then examined the square shaped scars over the girl's kidneys. Then she turned the girl around and tugged on the front of the towel. Andi hung on to the towel stubbornly, but when Emma insisted, she slowly dropped the towel. Emma probed the scars on her chest, then had Andi lie down as she checked her ribs and hip scars. There were also some pale, thin white lines across Andi's hips and upper thighs, then more wrapping around the hip and continuing behind Andi. Emma rolled her over, feeling envy. Andi had a wonderful body naturally; Emma had had hers surgically altered. She inspected the thin white lines, and asked Andi, "Where did you get these?"

                "What?" Andi twisted her head to look, and saw Emma looking at the thin white lines. "Oh, those were from a cane." Emma sighed, and patted Andi's knee as she said, "You can get up."

                Andi sat up, wrapping the towel around herself, looking at Emma enviously. "I wish I looked like you," she said. "You're so perfect."

                Emma laughed lightly and dropped her towel, arching so that Andi could see the thin white line under her breast. "Andi, do you see this line? There's one under the other one, too. This is not my natural body, Andi, I had myself surgically altered to look like this. I had scars on my body, just like you do."

                Andi stared openmouthed. "I never thought of that," she said. "How much do you think it would cost to have my scars removed like that?"

                "Don't worry about the cost," Emma said. "Would you like it done?"

                "Yes," Andi whispered, her fingers tightly clasped in her lap.

                "I'll take care of it," Emma said, then she tilted her head, hearing the sound of a car pulling up. "In the meanwhile, there's a present for you outside. Consider it a late eighteenth birthday gift." Andi crawled across the bed and peeked through the blinds. 

"Wow," she said, impressed. Emma joined her at the window. 

"What do you think?"

"He's gorgeous," Andi said happily. "Are you sure he won't mind?"

Emma blinked, then suddenly realized what was going on. Remy had had a day off, and he was supposed to take care of mowing the small yard.  She had talked him into going down to the car dealership with her to drive Andi's new car home, but she'd told him to take the long way back so she would have time to break the news to the girl. Remy had just gotten out of the car. It wasn't the car Andi was looking at; it was Remy.

Emma gasped once, then started laughing. Andi looked at her with such a puzzled look on her face that Emma started to giggle harder, and finally fell on her back on her bed, laughing helplessly. And sat there, smiling uncertainly, while Emma spluttered and gasped and choked. Finally, sensing Andi's impatience, she sat up and wiped her streaming eyes. "Not the man, the car," she giggled. "I bought the car for you!"

Andi looked out the window again. Remy was getting the lawnmower started, and he waved at her in the window. If he realized she was only wearing a towel he didn't say anything, or seem shocked. Red-faced, Andi scrambled off Emma's bed and ran for her room. Emma heard drawers opening and slamming, and minutes later, Andi came out fully dressed. Without a further word she headed out, ostensibly to inspect the car but also to see the man, if the thoughts buzzing around in her mind were any indication. Emma got up, still chuckling, and decided to delay her shower in favor of going out to check on Andi.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Remy turned back to the lawnmower, smiling. Andi was a pretty girl; he wondered if she'd gone out shopping with Emma yet and had her first wolfwhistle. With her figure, she wouldn't be lacking in that particular experience long. Though he'd only seen a little of her from the window, wrapped in that bulky towel, he had no doubt that any boy out there would think she was gorgeous. He wondered who the lucky guy would be to be able to go out with her; not many, if Ororo had her say. There wouldn't be that many guys out there who would meet Ororo's expectations.

                Andi came bouncing out the front door, and Remy grinned to himself again. She was wearing a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a dark-green long-sleeved bodysuit that showed off her slender figure and trim waist. The neckline of the top dipped low over her chest; not scandalously low, but low enough that a tiny hint of cleavage showed. A subtle tease, one that Remy was sure Emma had taught her. Her long brown hair fell to her waist, and Remy liked the way it looked loose. "Emma says this is mine," she said, walking over to the car 

                He loosened the choke-hold he had on his appreciation of her beauty, just enough to let the mental tendrils reach out to her. His empathic powers weren't as strong as hers; but her empathy would pick up on his emotions. He walked over to her, placed a hand gently on her shoulders, and opened the driver's side door. "Hop in," he said. Andi slid into the drivers' seat, and her slim hands stroked the new leather of the seats. Remy almost smiled at the thought of her hands stroking some boy. He wondered what Ororo would say to that!

                She was asking him a question, and he tore her mind away from the wandering his mind was doing to bend over, leaning in as he showed her what the various instruments on the dash and console meant. He paused in his explanation to look down at her, and instantly regretted it, because from where he was standing he could see straight down the front of her top. She wasn't as well-endowed as Rogue, but he could definitely think of things a boy would want to do to them.

                **Think Ororo would let anyone touch her, Remy?** came a dry chuckle in his mind. 

He continued to explain car function to Andi as he thought back to Emma, _Be a shame if 'Ro_ _didn'. She a beautiful girl._

**Wish she knew that,** came Emma's mindvoice, slightly exasperated. **I ran into her coming out of the shower. She was so embarrassed about her body she retreated into the bathroom until I got her another towel…Oh, get that thought out of your head! She's 'Ro's adopted daughter. I'd never do that to her.** Emma gave Remy a naughty look; his mind had conjured up an image of both her and Andi nude. **However, her low self-esteem might be helped if she spent some time around members of the opposite gender who did think she was pretty…though I think Ororo might be a little uncomfortable with that.**

_Dat your way o' saying she needs to hang aroun' boys? Usually teenagers' mothers and guardians try to discourage dat kinda t'ing. I kinda t'ink Ororo might have somet'ing to say about it._ Remy was amused.

**She's eighteen. She can make her own decisions. She doesn't need anyone's approval, though she might still ask 'Ro about it. But I think she'll go and do what she wants, regardless of Ororo's approval or not, as children are wont to do.** Their conversation stopped abruptly as Ororo's white convertible pulled up in the driveway behind the new car.

Ororo got out, looked at Andi, playing with the stereo in the car, and turned to Emma. "A late birthday present, Emma?"

Emma nodded. Ororo arched an eyebrow and said, "I assume you will be arranging for her to have lessons? I do not feel quite equal to the task of teaching a teenager how to drive."

"Of course," Emma said reassuringly.

Ororo looked at Remy, at Emma, then at Andi, who was turning the volume up on the stereo, having found a song she liked. Ororo decided to bring up the issue. Andi would never hear them over the noise. "And I assume you will also be arranging for lessons in other areas?" Remy coughed, almost choking, and Emma looked at Ororo speculatively. Had the other woman heard what they had just been discussing, or did she just have a hunch?

"Unless you have objections, yes…but keep in mind even if you don't want her to hang around other boys her age, she'll probably end up doing so on her own."

Ororo smiled, but there was ice in the smile, and lightning in her eyes. "I have no objections, provided Andi has none. But, Emma, she is not just another girl. Do not treat her as such. If someone hurts her I will take steps, and they will not be pleasant ones. Do you understand?" She crossed her arms.

Emma nodded. "I understand perfectly. I wouldn't let anyone hurt her either, I consider her as a neice, after all. I promise." 

Ororo tipped her head back, regarded her thoughtfully, then nodded. "As long as you are careful who you introduce her to, I have no problems, then." She swept past them into the house, and Remy and Emma were left staring at her back in astonishment and confusion.

Andi stuck her head out of the driver's side window. "Can I go for a ride?" 

Emma turned to Remy. "Think you could do that? I want to have a talk with Ororo."

Remy looked at Emma, at the house, then turned to Andi. "You need to get a learner permit b'fore we do dat. How 'bout you an' me go get dat now?"

"Okay," Andi said happily, scooting over into the passenger seat and turning down the radio.

Emma watched them go, then walked back into the house, where Ororo was calmly unpacking the bag she had brought. She leaned against the kitchen door for a while, watching, then picked up a package of ground beef and put it in the freezer. "You surprised me," she said.

Ororo looked up at her. "One does not need to be a telepath to see Andi's increasing interest in the opposite gender. Also, of the two of us you have the most experience, and you have been taking her out shopping. I saw no need to delay a conversation that we would have to have eventually." She arched an eyebrow at Emma. "I also saw no need to deny Andi what she would eventually do on her own anyway. I would rather have whatever boyfriend she has bring her home by the front door than have her attempt to climb the tree outside her window to get back in." 

Emma blinked. "I'd have thought, as protective as you are of her, you'd hate the idea of a boy around Andi."

"I do not like the idea," Ororo admitted, "but she also cannot live the rest of her life avoiding a male touch. And you have seen, and…slept with…enough men to recognize a bad intention. And you also care enough about Andi to be sure that should a boy approach her with such an intention, you would take care of it discreetly." Ororo put the orange juice in the refrigerator.

Emma took the pot of leftover chicken soup from the fridge and put it on the stove. "I saw Andi's scars," she said finally. "They look terrible. I told her about the plastic surgeon who did my work; I asked her if she would like to have them removed." She poured herself a glass of  apple cider and sat down at the table. "Do you think it's a bad idea?"

"Of course not," Ororo said. "I was actually thinking of approaching Xavier about them. Andi is dreadfully self-conscious about them and about her body. That is actually the first time I have seen her wear anything that exposed more than a half-inch of skin below her neck." She sighed, and set the coffeemaker. "I have no doubt Remy will take care of her lunch at a McDonald's somewhere. Let's eat now. I'm hungry."


	10. Nightlight'

 Chapter 10:

                Andi stepped out of the walk-in closet. "What do you think, Emma? Mom?"

                Emma nodded. "I think that will do nicely. How does it fit?" Ororo just stood there with a surprised look on her face.

                Andi turned in front of the mirror, looking at herself. She was wearing a red spaghetti-strap tank top, a cropped black leather jacket, and a short black skirt. Emma wanted her to get the micro-mini, but Andi had insisted that she wasn't that comfortable with her body that she wanted to wear something that short, and had chosen a black leather miniskirt that came to just an inch above her knees. 

                Emma was impressed. Andi had grown a lot, both mentally and physically. She had filled out her clothes, growing into a very nice set of womanly curves; her breasts, to her everlasting delight, were now a 36B. Not spectacularly full, but not flat, either. She had, however, kept her trim twenty-three inch waist, and her thirty inch hips. And she was now emerging with a definite sense of herself; as evidenced by her choice of clothing. She was no longer blindly wearing what Emma and Ororo bought her; she was choosing what she wanted to wear, and she definitely had good taste.

                She fiddled with the shoe nervously, unused to a heel higher than a couple of inches. Emma stood and looked at the shoe. "How does it feel?" It was a black leather sandal, with thin leather ties that wrapped up Andi's trim ankles. The heel was almost three inches high. Ororo looked at it.

                "Are you going to be able to walk, much less dance? It seems a bit high."

                Andi took a few steps, looking anxiously at the shoe, then turned and walked across the room and back. Her dancing had trained her body's posture; and a few sessions with Emma learning to walk in progressively higher heels had taught her how to put a bit of a seductive sway into her hips. "I think I've got it, Mom," she said with a laugh in her voice. "What do you think?"

                Ororo looked at Andi, her eyes suspiciously bright. "I am proud of you, Andi," she said. "You are a lovely young woman; you've gown so much in the last six months I hardly feel like I know you--"

                Andi wrapped her arms around Ororo and hugged her tightly. "I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for you," she said into Ororo's ear. "If you hadn't rescued me I wouldn't be here; I would have died while I was with Dr. Hebron, or I would have committed suicide with my parents. I love you, Mom." Ororo hugged her back, her eyes bright; and Emma wandered over to the window, looking out, trying to give them a moment of privacy. As headlights turned into the driveway, she cleared her throat. "I believe your escort's here," she said.

                Andi stepped back hurriedly and straightened her jacket. "Do I really need an escort?" she said resignedly. "I mean, I have my license now, I can drive myself…"

                "Absolutely not," both Emma and Ororo chorused at once. Ororo said firmly, "Andi, as mature as I believe you to be, I am not sure you have enough experience with men to deal with this yourself. That is why I asked Remy to accompany you."

                There came a knock at the door; Andi opened it before the person standing on the other side could knock again. Remy stood there, smiling roguishly and holding a bunch of flowers. 'I know dis ain't a real date, p'tite," he said, "but when a boy does come here, he goin' have flowers for you; so Remy figure he bring you some so you get used to de experience." His eyes traveled approvingly up and down her figure. "Not bad," he said, grinning.

                Ororo dropped a hand on Andi's shoulder. "Go put the flowers in the kitchen, Andi," she said. "There is a vase on the counter; you can put them in there. I wish to speak to Remy before you both leave." Andi disappeared into the kitchen, Emma following, and Ororo faced Remy, hands on her hips. "Remy. _This is not a date_. You are merely escorting Andi to a local teen club and making sure that none of the boys there do anything to harm _my daughter_. This means you are responsible for her. If anything happens to her you will have to face me. If you do anything to her you will never know what hit you. Do you understand?"

                Remy nodded emphatically. "I understan', 'Ro. Andi is completely safe with me." She glared at him a moment longer, letting her words sink in, then turned away as Andi bounced back into the room.

                Emma grabbed Remy's arm. "Andi. Before you go, I want to show you something." Andi turned to face her; so did Remy."

                "Boys at this age, your age, can be quite…persistent…when it comes to a pretty girl like you. So here; if one of them is standing closer to you than you like, and he's facing you, do this." With a quick jerk, she brought her knee up between Remy's legs.

                Remy saw stars. He bent double, mouth open, gaping like a fish as the pain in his groin made itself felt. Andi watched interestedly. Ororo gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

                He straightened up, breathing hard. "Emma…" he started, but she didn't give him a chance to say anything. 

She turned so he was standing behind her, and said to Andi, 'If they're behind you, do this." She raised her foot and pistoned it back into his groin. For the second time in as many minutes, Remy saw stars. He sat down heavily on the couch, eyes watering in pain. "This applies to any guy, Andi, including Remy. If he tries anything, do that. And when you get home, let Ororo and I know so we can…set him straight."

Andi nodded, eyes wide, as Remy got up. "Remy swear he goin' take care o' de p'tite! On my honor as a t'eif! I promise!" 

Emma gave him a sweetly poisonous grin. "See that you do. Or," she purred, leaning over him and tapping his chin with one perfectly manicured nail, "you will face Ororo when you get home…and me." Remy swallowed hard, nodded, and got up off the couch with undue haste.

                Remy gallantly opened the passenger side door for Andi, and she flashed him a quick smile as she got in. He got in the driver's side, buckled his seatbelt, and they were off. "Remy," Andi said after a period of silence, "I wouldn't do that to you. Emma's nice, and a lot of what she says makes sense…but I'd never hurt you like that."

                "Would you do dat to a boy who get fresh wit' ya?" 

                Andi considered that, and nodded. "Without a problem," she said confidently. Then she smiled, a wicked, predatory grin. "I don't have to do that to you. All I have to do is tell Mom and Emma…and they'd do it for me." Remy gulped, and scooted as far away from her as his seatbelt would allow. Andi laughed.

                'Nightlight' was crowded, as it usually was on a Friday night. Teens were gyrating wildly on the dance floor, while the 'bar' off to one side served sparkling cider, soda, and other non-alcoholic beverages. Andi walked in confidently, then looked around uncertainly. "Uh…what do I do now?" she asked in an undertone to Remy. He pointed to the dance floor and said, "You a dancer, p'tite. Go on and show dese amateurs what you can do." As she started to walk rather uncertainly toward the floor, he melted into the crowd and made his way over to the bar.

                Andi edged timidly through the throngs of dancers, scarcely noticing several boys turning to watch her as she edged out to the floor. The music was loud, a pulsing beat that made her want to move. The patterns in her head kept changing as the music changed; she sighed. At least she knew she wasn't crazy. Ororo had explained that her ability to 'see' music was called synesthesia; it was a trait that she also had. Andi closed her eyes, letting the beat settle into her mind, then started to move.

                She was all grace and sinuous curves, and the way she moved turned quite a few heads. A tall, handsome boy turned around at the table he was sharing with his friends to watch, though Andi was oblivious to his gaze. Another boy had stepped forward from the crowd, a slightly shorter, muscular, handsome boy, with the blond hair and high-school jock look, and was trying to match his dancing with hers. Andi smiled, never stopping her movement, all the while laughing inside at his clumsy attempts to dance with her.

                Remy sipped a coke as he watched Andi. She was a pretty girl; almost every boy in the club was looking at her, and quite a few of the girls were watching too, albeit with irritation in their faces.  He grinned, and was about to take another sip when he heard an amused voice at his elbow. "Quite the young miss, isn't she?"

                He turned, to see a woman slipping into the seat beside him. Remy looked at her appraisingly. Nice. Blond, blue eyes, skin-tight jeans that looked like they'd been poured on, and a low-cut peasant top gathered under her breasts, accenting her full bust. He smiled his most charming smile and turned to her. "Hello," he drawled.

                She extended a hand to him. "Alice Patton."

                "Remy LeBeau," he said, taking the offered hand and brushing his lips across the back of it. "Lovely to meet you, _chere_."

                Alice laughed, and hoisted herself onto the high barstool beside him. "You're a little old to be her date, so I assume you're here as a chaperone?" she said.

                "_Oui, chere_," Remy grinned. "And you are much too lovely t'be a girlfrien' to any of dose puppies out dere," he tipped his head back toward the dance floor, "so I assume you be doin' de same t'ing, _non_?"

                Alice laughed, and Remy felt his blood start pumping a little faster. He eased his hold on his reined-in sexuality, and let his feelings of appreciation and seduction out toward her mind. She responded. 

                "I'm here as a chaperone to Vicky, over there," she said, nodding toward a pretty petite redhead standing off to one side of the dance floor, also watching Andi and her current partner. "Her mother doesn't quite trust her around the boys, so she asked me to watch her. I must admit, she's a bit of a flirt, but she's still a sweet girl." She turned to watch Andi, whose partner had just been replaced by another boy, whose attempts at dancing were causing the whole club to laugh. He was transparently not a good dancer; but Andi gave him a pat on the shoulder and stepped in close, putting a hand on his hip and slowing her pace so she could guide his body close to hers to match her movements. Remy wondered if he should go over there, considering the rapidly narrowing space between Andi and the boy; but Alice put her hand on his arm. "Don't," she said. "Your girl's not so sure about the boys; but this is a good experience for her." He settled back on his stool.

                Andi swung her hips invitingly back and forth, and the boy in front of her suddenly broke his rhythm to step in close to her. Andi blinked; she wasn't quite comfortable with this. She tried to push him back, but he pressed forward, shoving his groin into hers. Angry, she shoved him back. He became more insistent. 

                She brought a knee up between his leg, sharply, as Emma had so recently shown her. The boy dropped to the floor, groaning as his fellows laughed, and a tall, slim boy with close-cropped brown hair detached himself from the rail surrounding the dance floor. "Serves you right, Greg," he said cheerfully at the downed boy. "Hey," he said, stopping in front of Andi. "I'm Ryan Harper. Wanna dance?"

                Andi took the offered hand. "Andi Munroe. I'd love to."

                Ryan listened to the music, then made a face. "Bad song," he said cheerfully. "Wait here." He went across the dance floor, jumped up on stage, and said something to the DJ, who nodded. Ryan jumped off and walked back to Andi, smiling, and the floor suddenly magically cleared for him and Andi. He stood across from her as the opening strains of the music started, and began to move with the beat. He was a phenomenal dancer, Andi soon realized. She began to move with him, both of them dancing with each other; a fast-paced _pas de deux_ that left their watchers gasping. 

                Across the club, Remy was impressed too. The girl had some really nice moves. Alice hmmp'd as she watched. "Your girl's great," she said appreciatively, taking another glass of sparkling cider from the bartender. "What school does she go to?"

                "School? She's privately tutored." Remy answered.

                "Prepping?" Alice saw his mystified look, and explained. "That boy's name is Ryan Harper. He's the star dancer at Julliard; Vicky's always going gaga over him. She's there on a music scholarship. I was wondering if her private teacher was preparing her for this year's scholarship competition."

                "Oh, dancin's Andi's hobby," Remy said, having gotten that much from listening to Ororo rave about Andi back at the mansion. "I don' t'ink her mother's considered de poss'bility dat Andi might try for a dancin' school. Her teacher's kinda groomin' her ta take over de…family business," he finished, not knowing how else to refer to Emma's corporation.

                Out on the dance floor, the dance had ended, and Ryan took Andi over to his table, where two other boys and two girls sat. "Andi, this is Frank and Will," the two boys nodded and shook her hand briefly, "and Eleni and Vicky." 

                Vicky, a petite redhead, smiled and offered her hand to Andi. "You're pretty good," she said. "Do you major in contemporary or classical? Ryan here's a classical dancer."

                Andi turned, startled. "You're a professional dancer?"

                Ryan blushed, shrugged. "Not yet," he said. "I've been in a couple of Julliard productions, but I haven't been tapped by a major company yet. I hope to get an offer from NYCB before I graduate, though." He swept a glass of sparkling cider off a passing waitress's tray and placed it in front of her. "I haven't seen you here before, though your face does look kind of familiar. Are you here for the annual competition?"

                "Competition?" Andi decided not to tell them they'd probably seen her on the news for the trial. It wasn't something she wanted her new friends to know.

                "Julliard's having their annual scholarship competition in a couple of weeks. Are you planning on trying out?"

                Andi laughed it off. "Dancing's just a hobby for me."

                "You should consider making it a career," Ryan said. "Got any other plans?"

                "Well, my mom's friend said she wants me to go with her into her business," Andi said slowly. "Honestly, I've never thought of myself as a stage dancer."

                "Well you should," Ryan said. 'You're better than me, and I got in on a scholarship last year. You'd make it easily."

                "I'll think about it," Andi said.


	11. Support

Chapter 11:

                Ororo yawned and stretched, then draped a robe around her shoulders and padded down the hall to Andi's room. To her surprise, the girl wasn't in it, and her bed hadn't been slept in. She hurried down the all to the kitchen, intending to pick up the phone and call the mansion, to find out of Remy had gotten home yet, but halted in the doorway in surprise. Andi was humming to herself as she made pancakes and sausage over the stove. She was still dressed in her outfit from the previous night. "Good morning," Ororo said.

                Andi turned to look at her, the corners of her eyes crinkled in a smile. "Didn't mean to scare you, Mom," she said with laughter in her voice. I just got in an hour ago, and I couldn't go back to sleep. I thought I'd make breakfast for you and Emma." She tipped her head toward the coffeemaker. "Coffee's ready if you want some."

                "I would appreciate it, Andi," Ororo said, rubbing her gritty eyes. Andi took a coffee cup from the cupboard, poured coffee in it, and added Ororo's favored amounts of cream and sugar. 

"Did you wait up long last night?" she said, returning to the stove and flipping the pancake over. "I was really going to try to be home before midnight, even though you said I could stay out as long as I wanted to, but I met this boy at 'Nightlight', and Remy decided he wanted to hang with Vicky's chaperone, so we all kind of ended up going out to Ryan's studio and dancing--"

"Hold on," Emma said, appearing at the door. "I want to hear this too. Is this why Remy's snoring on the family room couch?" Ororo looked at her, startled, then went to the living room door. Remy was sprawled out, sound asleep, on the couch. Someone—probably Andi—had draped the afghan from the back of the couch over him, and removed his boots. Ororo smiled and returned to the kitchen. Emma had helped herself to coffee, and Andi was dividing up the pancakes between four plates and adding several sausage links to each one. She put three plates on the table and slid the last plate into the microwave, apparently for Remy later. Emma poured syrup over her portion, handed it to Ororo, then both women waited for Andi to seat herself before they started eating. "So start at the beginning," Emma said. "What did you do? And who's Ryan?"

Andi smiled. "Remy took me out to the new teen's club that just opened, 'Nightlight'," she explained. "He said he'd heard a couple of the kids at school talking about it, and figured it sounded like a nice place. We walked in, and he told me to go mingle while he sat at the bar." She saw Ororo's face and grinned. "No, not an alcoholic bar, Mom! They only served soda and sparkling cider there. Well, I went out there on the dance floor and just started dancing, and all of a sudden there were all these boys that wanted to dance with me too. It was really cool." She took a sip of her orange juice as Ororo and Emma exchanged smiles. "Anyway, then this boy came up, his name was Greg…and oh, Mom, he was a horrible dancer, I couldn't stand him, and then he started rubbing up against me and all that stuff. I tried to push him away, I told him no, but he didn't listen. So I did what you told me, Emma," she grinned. "I kneed him. He fell over, and Ryan was watching, and he laughed. Greg went running off, and Ryan and I danced for a while." Her eyes grew dreamy. "Oh, Mom, he's a wonderful dancer. He's in Julliard on a dancing scholarship, and he's so good! I thought I looked terrible, but he said I was great." 

She took another sip of her juice. "Anyway, Ryan took me over to his table when the song ended, and got me a glass of cider while he introduced me to the friends who were sitting there. Frank and Will and Eleni and Vicky all go to Julliard; they have a loft that they all practice at outside the school. You know, just to fool around. Ryan invited me to come with them when the club closed. I checked with Remy; he had started up a conversation with Vicky's Aunt Alice who was also chaperoning Vicky last night, and he said he and Alice wanted to 'get better acquainted'…" and here Andi waggled her eyebrows, leaving the women with little doubt as to what that 'getting better acquainted' had entailed, "So we went out to his loft. Eleni lent me her leotard, and Ryan and I started dancing. When Remy and Alice came back I insisted that we had to go, but Ryan told me to think about trying out for the annual Julliard scholarship. They're having entrance auditions in a couple of weeks." Andi smiled. 'I drove home. Remy was almost asleep when we ot back here, and I figured it would probably be better for him to sleep here rather than go back to the school drunk. So I put him on the couch." She looked uncertain. "Did I do the right thing?"

Ororo nodded, remembering vividly the time Remy had gotten smashed and ran into the school's front gates on the way home. "You did fine, Andi. I'm proud of you. Though Remy was supposed to be in charge of you last night, I'm glad you're responsible enough to take care of yourself when his judgment…suffers a lapse." Emma grinned. 

Andi put down her fork, looking at the two women uncertainly. 'I have a couple of questions," she said nervously. "Uhm…Emma…I know you've been kind of like…grooming me to take over your company…but I'm kind of not sure that's what I want to do. I was thinking about what Ryan said…that I have talent…and I was sort f thinking about putting something together for the tryouts. I don't think I could win…but I checked the account my father set up for me, and I think if I really wanted to I could make the tuition to go to Julliard. Would you mind terribly if I went to Julliard?"

Emma stared, her mouth open. She closed it abruptly, tried to find something to say, but found herself speechless. "Uh…Andi, really, I've been planning this for months…I gave you an account and a car and everything! I never thought of you as selfish…but fine, if that's what you want to do, go right on ahead. I couldn't stop you anyway." She got up from the table and left the room.

Andi looked after Emma, trying to blink back tears. "Mom, I'm not selfish, am I?" she pleaded with Ororo. "I mean, dancing is something I always wanted to do, but my mother never let me do it…but they all think I had talent, and I know if I practiced hard enough I could do it…but do you think Emma's right? I mean you both have given me so much, and I don't want to seem ungrateful--"

Ororo placed a finger over Andi's lips, stopping her torrent of words. "Andi, stop. Emma is disappointed, that is all. She will get over it. What she gave you she gave of her own free will. She did not make you sign a contract with her that said in exchange for your gifts you would have to become her protégé; it is still your life. Do what you want with it. If you wish to attend Julliard, then I will not cross you in your desires." She sat back and picked up her fork. "Now what was your other question?" 

"Uh…" Andi fumbled, having lost her train of thought in the unexpected confrontation with Emma. "Oh, Ryan. It was about Ryan. Mom, would you mind if I went over to his loft to practice? I mean, I know he's a boy and all, but he's not interested in sex, really he's not. It's all about dancing, with him." Andi stopped.

Ororo looked at her thoughtfully, sighing inwardly to herself. It was going to happen sooner or later; Andi was going to start taking an interest in boys. She would ask Remy later about the boy…but in the meantime… "No," she said. Andi's eyes started to tear up, but Ororo stopped them up with her next words. "I do not see why you should need to go over to his loft. As he invited you there once, perhaps he will not be adverse to coming here. And I would like to meet the boy who has captured my little girl's attention." She smiled then at Andi, and the girl went from dispirited to excited all at once.

"Really? He can come here? Wow! Oh, Mom, you're the greatest," Andi squealed excitedly as she got up and hugged Ororo. "Oh, I'm going to call him now!" 

She started to jump up, but Ororo stopped her. "If you are going to be dancing then you are going to need all your energy. Sit down and eat your breakfast first, young lady!" Chastened, Andi sat. The rest of the food on her plate disappeared in record time, and then she jumped up and ran off to her room. Ororo had recently put a phone in there for her, even though Andi hadn't asked for it. She had figured that eventually the girl would want to have private phone conversations.

She was washing Andi's dishes and emptying Emma's plate when a low groan from the doorway announced Remy's arrival back to consciousness. Ororo turned and surveyed him, hands on her hips. "Remy…" she began.

He waved a hand at her. "I know, I know," he said weakly. "You goin' to skin Remy for losin' control an' makin' Andi take charge o' t'ings. Can I get some coffee and aspirin before you start de yellin'?" He looked up at her blearily. "Please, Stormy?"

Laughing to herself, Ororo pulled out her own chair for him and helped him cross the kitchen to it. He accepted a cup of coffee…black, the way he always took it after a night of drinking…and swallowed two aspirin with it. Two cups later, he regained some of his usual demeanor. He gave Ororo his version of the previous night, delicately not bringing up the 'get better acquainted' part of his evening with Alice. He could see Ororo's eyebrows drawing together, and hastened to divert her mind down other channels. "Andi say she wan' to try out for dat fancy dancin' school. She tell Emma yet?"

Ororo sat down with another cup of coffee. "Yes she did. Emma…did not take it well--"

"Well how did you expect me to take it?" Emma said acidly from the door. "I put all this work into training her to follow in my footsteps, preparing to give her my company….and the silly girl wants to throw it all away for some silly hobby of hers."

Surprisingly, it was Remy who answered her. "It's not silly, Emma," he said seriously. "Andi dance really good. Remy drunk las' night and even he see dat. It's not written in stone, Emma. Dancers dance for maybe ten years or so; I t'ink mid t'irties be de point dey stop dancin' cause all de parts don' work right no more. When dat happen Andi need somet'ing else to occupy herself wit'. And really, you don' look like you ready to retire anytime soon. You still as beautiful as you were when we firs' run into you." He smiled at her charmingly. Emma stared at him, then smiled unwillingly. "I guess," she said.

"Emma, children are not put on this earth to do what we wish them to do," Ororo said, taking Remy's plate out of the microwave as it beeped. She put it in front of Remy and sat in the third chair. "They are their own people. Andi does not owe us anything. We did not rescue her from her former life to have her become what we want her to become; if that was our intention we could have left her with her parents. She needs to know that we support her in her interests and stand behind her, no matter what she chooses to do. She needs to know we _love_ her, Emma, not for what she can do, but for what she is. She needs to know that our love for her, unlike her parents' love, does not have conditions."

She blinked as Emma got up abruptly and walked out. "Was it something I said?"

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Andi looked up as Emma opened her door. She was dressed in her dancing clothes; black leotard, short skirt, and the new pointe shoes she had bought for herself with the money Emma had given her for her birthday. She paused warily in the act of lacing up the shoe and looked up at Emma. "Emma--"

                Emma held up a hand. "Wait, Andi. Let me say something first. I'm sorry for what I said in there. It is your own life, and you do have a right to do with it whatever you want to. If you want to pursue your love of dance, go on ahead. But I want you to know…if you change your mind, Frost Enterprises will still be waiting for you."

                Andi's eyes widened. "Oh…Emma…thank you…" She rushed into Emma's arms and hugged her. Emma hugged her back, tightly, and they stood that way for a long time. Finally Andi pulled back. 'Ryan's on his way here," she said. "Mom said I could invite him here to help me practice. Wanna meet him?"

                Emma raised an eyebrow. Oh, yes she did…

                "Promise me one thing?" Andi said beseechingly to Emma.

                Emma frowned. "Sure, what is it?" she asked.

                "Promise me you won't knee him…?" 


	12. Audition

Chapter 12:

                The doorbell rang.

                Andi jumped up and ran to the door, smiling in a way Ororo had never seen before. The door opened, and there stood a rather handsome young man on the front step, smiling at her. "Hey, Andi," he said. 

                Andi had this funny smile plastered all over her face. "Come on in," she said. "Mom, this is Ryan; Ryan, this is my Mom." She turned to Emma. "This is my teacher, Emma."

                If Ryan was surprised by Ororo's appearance, he did a wonderful job hiding it. "Hi, Mrs. Munroe," he said, extending a hand. Ororo took it, feeling the firm clasp of his hand. She liked him, suddenly. "Miss," she corrected him with a smile. "I am not married."

                He smiled, and flushed charmingly; Ororo liked him even more. He turned to Emma.

                Emma had disappeared into her room to change out of her casual white jeans and shirt when she heard that Andi's boyfriend was coming over. She was sitting on the couch now in full 'White Queen' regalia, looking coolly at the boy. Ryan gulped almost audibly and held out a hand, which Emma took with an icy smile and dropped it immediately. He nodded to her briefly. "Miss Emma." They stood there in awkward silence for a moment; Ororo and Andi both trying not to laugh and Emma enjoying the boy's discomfort. Ororo finally broke the silence. "Why don't you take Ryan out to your studio, Andi? Show him around. Lunch will be ready in about an hour." She gave them a friendly smile as they exited the room. Once the kids were gone, she fell on the sofa laughing. "Emma!"

                Emma looked at her in mock anger. "I did it for you, Ororo," she said. "He won't try anything with Andi now."

                "Not now," Ororo agreed. "Not with the way you look! You looked like you were about to do the same thing to him that you did to poor Remy." She grinned. "Remy wished me to tell you that he will find a way of 'getting back' at you for what you did last night. He was not pleased at being used as an object lesson for Andi."

                "Let him come," Emma grinned cheerfully. "I can handle him."

                Ororo smiled and got up, heading to the kitchen to make lunch.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Ryan gave a huge sigh as Andi closed the heavy glass door that closed off her 'studio' from the rest of the house. "That's your teacher?" he gave a dramatic shudder. "Wow. How do you live with her? Does she always dress like that?"

                Andi collapsed on the bench in front of her piano, laughing. "No," she said finally, wiping her eyes. "No, Emma doesn't usually dress like that. She did that deliberately to intimidate you."

                "Oh, I'm intimidated, all right," Ryan shook his head. "Gosh. She looks like she'd just as soon take a paddle to my butt than look at me." And Andi started laughing again.

                "She just wants to make sure no one 'takes advantage' of me," Andi said, turning on the boombox she played her dancing music on and reaching for the cabinet she kept her CD's on. "Mom and Emma both are a little overprotective."

                "Well, after the trial, I don't blame them." Andi turned in disbelief, and Ryan nodded. "I know. I remembered last night where I'd seen your face before. It was on TV, during that trial." 

                Andi dropped the stack of CD's she was holding, looking pale. "I was hoping you wouldn't put it together," she said faintly. "I didn't want anyone to know it was me. I even cut my hair so I'd look different." She dropped her eyes to her lap, twisting her fingers nervously. "I'll understand if you don't want to stay--"

                Ryan caught her wrist. "Wait. I never said I wanted to leave. What you went through doesn't have any bearing on how I feel about you. I think you're a strong, beautiful girl who didn't deserve to have all those awful things happen to you. It also makes me even more determined to help you get what you want; namely, that scholarship. So come on. Let's get practicing." He bent to gather up the scattered discs, and after a moment Andi did too.

                He looked through the music. "Have you been thinking about which song you want to put together a routine to?"

                Andi sighed. "I actually have no idea," she said. "What would be appropriate? Do they want to see a set combination of steps, or do they want to see something original? I've never been to an audition before; I've never danced in front of anyone. I don't know what to do. How do they do auditions?"

                Ryan sat down. "Well, when you walk in, they'll pin a number on your leotard. They'll never call you by name; it's always by number, at least till they've made a decision. I honestly don't think they'll recognize you from the news; the name the press used was Alexandra Sanderson, and you're using Andi Munroe now. I wasn't even sure; I didn't realize it was you until I saw the scar on your lower back when we were dancing and figured where I'd seen you before. At the audition, your hair should be up in a bun, and you'll be wearing the black leotard and regulation tights, so they won't see that.

                "They'll put you in a group of about twelve other girls, and then a teacher will line all of you up by the barre and have all of you do exercises. They'll be looking for style, personality, and technique; you won't have a problem. Then they'll get all of you out in the center and have you do center exercises; then you'll all be called up one at a time to perform a piece. The time limit's five minutes; and they do look at everything, so you have to work really hard on that. Here." He dug around in his duffel bag and brought out a sheet of paper. "I took the liberty of picking up an audition requirement sheet; it tells you what to wear and all that stuff." He waited till Andi had skimmed the paper, and then said, "The performance piece can be any style, any technique; they don't want to see just ballet. I saw a girl get up and do an Irish step piece at my audition; they like that. Do you do anything besides ballet?"

                "I play piano," Andi said. "But I'm better at playing my own pieces than other stuff."

                Ryan looked at her curiously. "You compose?"

                Andi nodded, turning pink.

                Ryan grinned. 'Wow. Hey, want to impress the judges? Play your own piece on tape, then dance to your own music. I guarantee they'll give you more attention than anyone else."

                "But isn't that kind of…cheating?" Andi said timidly.

                Ryan shook his head. "The whole point to an audition is to make yourself so memorable that the judges automatically think of you when the time comes to vote. Whatever you can do to get their attention is fair. I guarantee you that there will be at least one or two girls there at the audition that will try to take the front center position, and will wear the flashiest costumes in order to get attention. You don't want to be the flashiest, gaudiest dressed person there; you want to be the best in style and technique. And personality; personality is really important. Yow know, when I auditioned, there was a girl there, Sophie, who danced really well. She didn't make any mistakes at all, and she had the technique and style. But her personality was horrible; she was shoving around this other girl Emily and making awful remarks about her mistakes. The judges picked Emily for the scholarship; because even though she did make mistakes she had style and technique, and more importantly she had a better personality. They choose scholarship students with an eye toward eventually tapping them for the company; and being able to get along with others is a big part of being part of a touring company." Ryan shrugged. "Not that you'll have any problems in the personality category. Now come on; do you have any pieces of music that you wrote?"

                Andi dug her sheet music out of the pile, and played it for Ryan. When she was done, he whistled. "I could have sworn that was a published piece," he said. "Do you have any others?"

                So Andi played several more pieces of her self-composed music, and Ryan listened, making suggestions. At the end of that time, they had chosen to use two short pieces that Andi had composed, one classical and one contemporary. Ryan took her place at the piano bench and played both pieces together, then he and Andi worked out steps. They were so engrossed in what they were doing it was something of a shock when Ororo opened the door and announced lunch.  After lunch they went back to the studio to practice. Ororo peeked through the glass door several times to check on them, but she didn't have to worry; Andi was concentrating on her dancing, not on the boy.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                "Name?"

                Andi was so nervous she could barely get her name out. "A-A-Andi Munroe," she finally managed.

                The officious-looking, slightly paunchy woman at the registration table crossed Andi's name off her list and handed her a piece of paper with the number '12' on it and two small safety pins. "On your leotard, in front, loose enough that it won't rip while you're dancing," she instructed. Andi stepped aside, and the woman barked at the girl in line behind Andi, "Name?"

                Andi was so nervous she could barely get the safety pin fastened to her leotard. She sat down on a nearby chair, slid her feet into her pointe shoes, and tied them up. Then she started to warm up, swinging her legs and rotating her hips, concentrating on trying not to show how nervous she was.

                There were three girls in a group right in front of her, chattering while they pinned the numbers on each other's leotards. "Oh, this will be a breeze," said one girl, a pretty blond in a black velvet leotard. "There's no one here who's even close to us. They'll pick one of us for sure." Andi's eyes widened at the arrogant assumption, and looked up quickly. The other girl was looking right at her with a sneer on her face. Andi suddenly knew what Ryan was talking about when he mentioned bad personalities; this girl was a walking example of it.

                "Dancers one through 12, stand up please," said a slim, black-clad teacher at the front of the class. Andi stood up. The blond girl, Candace, scooted to the front of the group, standing right behind the teacher, with her two friends, Hilary and Jenny, behind her. Andi ended up somewhat toward the end of the girls at the barre.

                "Plie in first, open to second, close to third, then open to fourth and arabesque…" The teacher rattled off a list of instructions, and Andi tried to remember them all, closing her eyes and trying to relax as her body flowed into the familiar positions. The music helped; the cool blue and green patterns she saw behind her closed eyelids calmed her. After a bit, she opened her eyes, watching the girls in front of her with interest as she did what was asked of her.

                Candace, she saw immediately, had a reason to brag. Andi's heart sank as she studied the blond girl. Candace had mile-high extensions, perfect alignment, and, what Andi wanted more than anything else, the perfect body. She was petite and slender, something that would help her as a dancer, while Andi had just barely made it under the maximum height requirement. She was one of the tallest girls there, and while she had a slim, willowy body that rivaled Candace's, she also had a height disadvantage. Candace had to have been only five-three; Andi was five-six. The height maximum was five-seven.

                The music stopped, and the teacher clapped his hands. "Group one, center, three lines of four each, arms-length apart," he said, and there was a scramble for the coveted front-and-center position, which was claimed by Candace, of course. Andi ended up at the right of the last row, beside a nervous, mousy-haired girl called Rose. She gave the other girl a reassuring smile, and the girl smiled back. Andi suddenly felt a bit more relaxed. They both went through the rest of the center exercises much more relaxed, and Andi noted the other girl had a lot more technique than she herself did. She knew Rose was going to get the scholarship; and she was surprised she didn't mind. Her father had already told her that if she didn't get the scholarship he would still pay her tuition for her; so she was in whether she won it or not. Still, Andi would have liked to get that scholarship…

                The instructor stopped the class, and the short, slim woman sitting between the two men at the judges' table called out several numbers. "Number 5, number 6, number 8, number 12, take your seats. The rest of you, come with me." Andi, Candace, Rose, and Jenny sat down in the hard chairs as the other eight girls whose names hadn't been called filed out of the room after the woman. Andi's heart was jumping in her chest; were they still in the competition, or were they out? She was still nervous when the woman came back in, without the girls, and sat back down behind the table without a comment. The instructor clapped his hands, summoning the next batch of dancers, and the audition went on.

                At the conclusion of the center exercises four other dancers were picked out and the rest sent out of the room. This time Andi realized that the ones called were the ones who had made the first round; the ones who left were out of the running.

                There were two more groups called up; when they were all gone there were sixteen dancers waiting; slightly more girls than boys. The instructor had them all come out to the barre again, and put them through another, more difficult combination of steps; Andi found herself having to concentrate harder to do what was asked, so she was slightly surprised to feel a tap on her shoulder. It was the instructor. "Number 12, center, first position," he said, jerking a thumb toward the center. She scooted out of line at the barre and stood in first in the center of the room, wondering why she was there by herself. She was soon joined by Rose, Candace, and five others. Candace's friend Jenny was left standing at the barre, and when the woman again stood and gestured to the barre student, Andi realized she'd passed the next round. She breathed a sigh of relief, mirrored by Rose, and the two girls smiled at each other quickly before facing forward again.

                The instructor called Rose, Candace, and two boys named Tom and Mike to the center, motioning the others back. Andi's heart jumped into her throat, but it turned out they only wanted to see combinations of students doing steps together and individually.  Andi was paired with a boy named Justin when her turn came; he was good, but not as good as Ryan.

                "Girls, come forward," said the instructor, and the four girls went to the center. He had them do steps together, in complex combinations. Andi had to concentrate, but not so much that she didn't see Candace fling a foot out in an arabesque and strike Rose in the face with her shoe. Rose cried out, stumbled, then lost her balance en pointe and fell. Andi stopped immediately, going to the fallen girl and helping her up as the instructor said, "Number eight, out."

                Andi stood aghast as rose got up and started to walk out of the studio. "Wait!" she said loudly. "Wait, it's not fair, it wasn't her fault--"

                "Number twelve. You will not challenge a decision unless you wish to be disqualified." Andi clamped her mouth shut, stepping back into line as she watched Rose walk off toward the bathrooms to change into regular clothes, crying bitterly. Her heart went out to the girl. She'd seen the worn, faded condition of her leotard; the audition must have been a last-ditch attempt to get into a good school. She didn't have the money, or her parents didn't, to send her here. Her only chance was a scholarship. 

                She was still smarting as Mike and two other students were eliminated. Now Andi, Candace, Tom, and Justin were the only ones left. There was a break for the four student hopefuls to rest, and Andi shot out of the line and ran to the door. She caught Rose just about to leave. "Rose!" she said.

                The girl turned. "Hi," she said, her eyes still red from crying. "Hey, congratulations. I hope you get it."

                Andi said to her, "I saw what Candace did. I'm sorry the instructor didn't see it. Where are you going?"

                "I have to catch the bus to go home," Rose said quietly.

                Andi looked at the wall clock. "If you wait until the audition's over, I'll drive you home. The bus doesn't come for another hour." Rose looked about to decline, but Andi insisted. There was snow on the ground, and she knew the cold wasn't good for a dancer's bones.

                She led the girl back into the studio and sat her down in a chair. Candace walked back in from using the restroom, wearing her costume for performance. "You were out there, with her," she said snidely, "So you missed the announcement. We're about to do our performance pieces; you have to go change--" 

                The instructor walked in, and Candace smiled. "Too late. Hope your parents are rich enough to afford Julliard, Andi, cause you're not getting the scholarship." She walked off toward her seat, and Rose gasped. 

"Oh, she's so hateful! Oh, Andi, I'm sorry, you haven't got time to change…"

Andi shook her head. "That's all right," she said, "I'll dance in my leotard." As she watched Candace take a position in the middle of the floor, she thought wistfully of the pretty blue dress she'd chosen for her performance piece. Oh, well She'd have to do it in her leotard. She warmed up at the barre, watching Candace out the corner of her eye and the judges out the other. Candace was a good classical dancer; Andi's heart sank. She wasn't going to get it; she just knew it. Oh well.

Justin went next, doing some street-style dancing Andi had seen at Nightlight. He was good. Tom looked at her, making a 'who goes next' gesture. She indicated the floor, and he went on while she dug her sheet music out of her duffel bag and handed it to the pianist in the corner.

Tom finished, and Andi sighed. It was going to be Candace and Tom. She set her lips in a firm line, and relaxed. Well, she'd just go out there and have fun with her routine, then. She wasn't going to worry about winning or not.

She took her place, waiting for the music to start, but the pianist didn't start playing. Instead, he gestured to the instructor, then to the female judge. Both adults went over to the piano; then they called Andi over. "The pianist hasn't seen this music before," said the female judge. 

"I know," Andi said quietly, still upset with them for their unfair elimination of Rose. "I wrote it myself."

"You write music?" The female judge sounded intrigued. She turned to the pianist. "Can you play it, Joe?" Joe started to pick out some of the notes, then as he got into the rhythm, he started to play. Andi listened; he was playing what she'd written. The judge allowed him to play it once, through, then said, "Number twelve, take your place."

Smiling inwardly, Andi returned to the center of the studio. She flashed Candace a bright smile, gave the judges one, then started to dance. She knew the music by heart; when the pianist faltered she still kept dancing, till she reached the end of her music.

The female judge rose from her place at the table. "The decision this year was especially difficult," she said, "But we made it. The recipients of this year's scholarships are Thomas Drew and Alexandra Munroe." She smiled at them. 'Congratulations."

Andi sat there, stunned. Rose jumped up from her chair and ran over to her. 'You got it! Andi, you got it!" Andi, still stunned, looked at the girl, who, despite her excitement for Andi's sake, was still crying for herself. She turned to the judges. "I refuse."

Jaws dropped all over the room. "What?" said one judge. "You can't—Why on earth--" 

"Rose was unfairly eliminated," Andi said firmly. "She didn't fall because of a mistake; Candace kicked her. The results are biased."

The instructor started to speak, but the judges hushed him. 'What did happen, Miss Munroe?" he asked Andi. Andi recounted what had happened briefly.

"Miss, will you take your coat off?" he said to rose. "We will give you five minutes to change, and then all three of you will dance again. We regret the decision to eliminate you was based on faulty information."

Rose, elated, ran off to change back, and Andi and Candace both danced again. Rose danced too. The judges conferred with each other, whispering, then the female judge stood up. "Number eight, you do dance well. Number twelve, we regret to inform you that we have reversed our decision; the scholarship will be awarded to Rose Dawson. Candace Hawkins;" the judge turned to her, 'because of your unfair actions, you disqualified yourself. If you choose to attend our school anyway, be aware that the teachers will be keeping an eye on you. The smallest infraction and you will be asked to leave." She turned to Andi. "That was an incredible thing you did, giving your friend a chance. Because of your good sportsmanship, we will award you a fifty percent discount on your tuition, as well as any financial help you might need, in order to attend."

Andi squealed in excitement, hugging Rose frantically.


	13. Another Beginning

Chapter 13:

                Ororo jumped up when she heard the sound of tires on the driveway.

                Emma followed her as she hurried out to where Andi was getting out of the car. "Did you get it?" she asked anxiously.

                Andi paused as she tried to come up with an answer. "Yes…and no," she finally said.

                Emma frowned. "What do you mean, yes and no?" she said.

                Andi sighed and leaned her head on Ororo's shoulder. They were going to give it to me, but it wouldn't have been fair," she said. "So I refused."

                "Why was it not fair? You went and tried out just like everyone else…" Emma said angrily.

Ororo laid a restraining hand on Emma's arm. "Come on in," she said, wrapping an arm around Andi's shoulders. "Tell us about it."

Andi cradled a cup of hot chocolate as she told them her story. "So Rose gets the scholarship," she said. "And they offered me a discount on tuition if I still want to go there. Dad will be happy, I think." She sighed and buried her face in Ororo's shoulder. "Mom, I know I did the right thing…but oh, I did want that scholarship!" She sighed.

Ororo held Andi out at arm's length. "Listen to me, Andi. I am prouder of you now than if you had won the scholarship. You did win it…but you gave it to someone who needs it more, and because it wasn't fair. You did something that was incredibly hard; you gave up something you wanted badly to someone who deserved it more. It took courage and conviction; and I am proud of you." She wrapped her arms around Andi in a hug that lasted for some time before something occurred to her. "As your tuition is now cut in half, I take it your father will not object to your use of your trust fund for your dancing education?"

"I have to go call him!" Andi put her cup down and shot off the couch, heading for the phone in her room. When she was gone Ororo looked at Emma. 

'You are being unusually quiet," she said. "I take it you are not happy with what Andi has done."

Emma shook her head. "Ororo, in this world, and with the business world, it's every man….or woman…for him or herself. Andi's soft spot disturbs me; she's liable to get walked all over if she continues to lay herself out for it."

Ororo shook her head. "Emma, you do not understand, do you?"

"What?" Emma frowned.

"Andi's experiences have given her a look at terrible injustice. What she did…it was not a display of a soft spot, it was Andi trying to right something she saw as wrong. Trust me; if Andi felt she was getting walked over, she would do something about it. She is not going to allow herself to fall into that trap again. She has a generous spirit, and a keen sense of what is right and wrong, and she has been victimized enough by now that she will not let herself become a victim again." Ororo sat back against the couch.

"You're proud of her." It was more of a statement than a question.

Ororo nodded anyway. "Yes I am. She has changed so much since I first saw her. Emma, you did not see her when she first came to the school; she was a walking bundle of nerves. The first morning she was there I shut off her alarm clock to let her sleep; her parents had said that she was to be up at six, but she seemed very tired the night before. Andi almost had hysterics; she was wringing her hands in fear that we were setting her up and would then tell her parents she was not sticking to that ridiculous schedule. Now she is sticking up for herself, and for others, for what is right and what is wrong. She acknowledges that this other girl Rose is a better dancer; it shows a degree of humility and maturity that is most unusual in children nowadays. Even my nephew, Evan; as much as I love him, he has a way to go when it comes to maturity." She sipped her tea. 

"Now we have a problem. Charles mentioned to me that Jean rather has her hands full; he was asking when I might be able to return to the school and resume my teaching duties. You, I know, have to attend to your company; and I thank you for taking as much time out from your business as you have, for Andi. I don't, however, think that staying at school will be suitable for Andi, as she will not be attending Xavier's…"

"Mom?" Ororo looked up as Andi came back in and sat on the couch beside her. "Uhm…I know you love me, and I'd love to stay here with you…but it's kind of a long way away from Julliard. Dad told me that with the reduction in tuition, he could afford an apartment in the city that would be closer to the school. And Rose lives even further away." She hesitated. "Would you mind terribly if Dad got me that apartment and Rose and I roomed together?"

Ororo raised an eyebrow. "Have you discussed this with Rose?"

Andi lowered her eyelashes. "I drove Rose home after the auditions because it was cold and I didn't want her to have to stand out there waiting for the bus," she finally admitted. "We talked on the way. Julliard has dormitories, but chances are we'd be sharing ours with that horrible girl Candace; neither Rose nor I wanted to do that. She said her parents could probably afford about six hundred a month in apartment rent, but she said she'd feel lonely. She's got four brothers; she's used to there being a lot of noise and people. Living in an apartment by herself would seem lonely, and I agreed. Would you mind if I moved in with her?"

**Think she heard us talking,** Emma said to Ororo telepathically. Ororo smiled.

"I think that would be all right," Ororo said. "Charles was just asking me yesterday when I would be able to resume teaching duties back at the school; and Emma has some urgent business to attend to. By all means, dear; if you can reach a suitable agreement with Rose and your father, I have no objections to you moving out and getting your own place. In fact, I think it would be a good thing; you should experience independence."

"Oh, Mom." Andi hugged her, tight, then reached up and kissed Ororo's cheek quickly. "You're the best! I love you so much." She bounced up off the couch. "I gotta go call Rose!"

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Ororo pulled up behind the black Mercedes Andi's father owned and she and Andi both got out. Andi shaded her eyes as she looked down the sidewalk, and pointed. "Oh look, there's Rose and her parents!" She ran to meet them, returning with a petite, shy-looking green-eyed girl with brownish-blond hair. "Mom, this is Rose. Rose, meet my Mom."

                Rose extended one small hand. "Hello, Miss Munroe." Ororo clasped it briefly, then shook her parents' hands. Mr. And Mrs. Dawson looked surprised, but had enough delicacy not to comment.

                "Shall we go up?" said Andi's father. He led the five people up the stairs into the building. It didn't look like much from the outside, but inside it was clean, neat, and well-lit. "One of my patients owns the building," he said. "When I mentioned that I was looking for an apartment for Andi, he suggested that I rent an apartment here for her. Most of the apartments here run about seven hundred, but he was willing to give me a discount. The apartment will cost about five hundred a month. I'll pay two-fifty, Mr and Mrs. Dawson, so all Rose will need is another two fifty to cover her half of the rent. I will pay another two-fifty into Andi's account for utilities and expenses. Andi explained that you could afford six hundred a month for her rent; whatever you have left after you pay her share of the rent can be put into the account for her half of the utilities and expenses. Will that work for all of you?"

                Mr. Dawson looked gratified. "This is more than I could have hoped for," he said. "We thank you very much for the arrangements you have made."

                "Ah, but you haven't seen the apartment yet." Mr. Hill fumbled with the keys for a moment, trying to unlock the door, then opened it.

                The door opened up into a living room with a hardwood floor. The dining area was just past that; then the kitchen split off from the dining room. There was a closet just off to their left; and beyond that was three doors. Andi opened one, and saw a bedroom; not as large as the one at home with Ororo and Emma; but it was a decent size for the apartment. The second door opened into another bedroom, about the same size. The third door opened up into a bathroom with a linen closet just beside the shower.

                Rose peeked into the first bedroom. "Wow!" she said, impressed. "Can I have this room?" 

                Andi grinned. "Sure," she said. "I like this one better, anyway." The second room had a beige carpet down on the floor; the first bedroom was done in a pale peach. Andi much preferred the beige carpet.

                The kitchen had mostly new appliances, and, to Andi's relief, gas cooking. She had gotten used to cooking on the gas burners at the house; they were much faster. There was plenty of cupboard space, too. "Andi," Ororo said, 'Since Charles will be leasing the house  we've been living in, you may take whatever furniture you want for this apartment. That way you will not have to buy anything. Will that suit you?"

Andi hugged her tight, then turned to Mr. Hill. "I love it, Dad," she said, then turned to Rose. "What do you think?"

                Rose was grinning too. "I like it," she said. "I really do. Mom, Dad, please can I stay? Please, Dad? Pleeeeaaassee?"

                The Dawsons were grinning at the begging tone in Rose's voice. "Of course, Princess," Mr. Dawson said. "I can't complain about any of it. Although," he said, "How come there was no carpet in the living or the dining rooms?"

                Andi's father led them out of the kitchen and back into the living room. "The previous tenants messed the carpet up pretty badly," he said. "I told the owner to leave the floor bare; I thought maybe the girls would like some practice space of their own here." He turned to Andi. "I found this place that builds portable barres. It's just three stands with brackets for a thick wooden bar to go in them; but it should do for you to practice on. I'll show you the brochure; if you don't like it we can always build one right into the wall for you. The owner said he wouldn't mind."

                Andi looked at him searchingly. "What did you have to promise him to get all this for me, Dad?" she asked.

                Mr. Hill waved a hand at her. "Don't worry about it, Lexi," he said. "He's getting a discount on his medical care, is all. He was more than happy to help me out." He looked at her. "Are you happy?"

                "Blissfully!" Andi hugged him tightly.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                That's the end of Book 2 of  'Secrets and Shadows.'

                I've been of two minds about this book since the eighth chapter. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do another Secrets and Shadows book, or if I was going to leave it as a two-fer. I decided just last night that I was going to make this a trilogy, so yes, to everyone out there, there will be a third book. (I hear some people going yay!)

                Look for Emma and Ororo to come back in the next book. Andi, of course, will be returning, and you're going to see a little more of Ryan. He's Andi's first boyfriend; she's going to be so absolutely heartbroken when he dies…and she's going to take Emma up on her offer of Frost Enterprises. Candace will also be poking her haughty little nose into the next book, early on: don't worry, it won't be for long.

                I have major writer's block on 'Fire and Ice'; I think I'm going to shelve that project for a while. In the meantime, I'll work on 'Secrets and Shadows 3' and on my new novel, tentatively titled, 'Sarah.' (It still doesn't have a regular title; I'm trying to find one and not having much luck.) I've only just gotten the first chapter rewritten; I'm bouncing it off a couple of people now to see what the initial reaction is. I promise, I will tell everyone who cares to know when my friend gets her site working and the book gets posted!

                So I'll see you all for the third book, and I hope you all enjoyed this one! Let me know if you liked it!

Sincerely, 

Jae


End file.
